


in every (alternate) dimension

by welcometotheupsidedown



Series: In Every Universe - Mileven Alternate Universes [4]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Soulmates, mileven rights, will add to tags when necessary
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2020-04-07 22:12:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 22,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19094119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/welcometotheupsidedown/pseuds/welcometotheupsidedown
Summary: A series of one-shots in which Mike and Eleven fall in love in alternate universes.Each chapter is a new story.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hi folks, I'm back on AO3 after a much needed break!
> 
> So some things you should know about this series:
> 
> 1\. These stories will all have different ratings, and I will put this rating in the beginning notes, but the overall rating at the moment is teen and up.
> 
> 2\. Some of these ideas were my own, others were written based on prompts I found on tumblr, so if something sounds familiar, there's a chance it has already been done before. 
> 
> 3\. El will probably have different last names based on the fics. I know that her actual parentage is Andrew Rich and Terry Ives (via Suspicious Minds), but in some instances I might alter her parentage for reasons that apply to the stories.
> 
> 4\. When talking about Will, I will never reveal his sexuality because it hasn't actually been confirmed either way on the show. Until then, I will always refer to Will dating "someone". 
> 
> 5\. Some stories will be really short and other really long, but that the way things go.
> 
> Now... onto the prologue!

If you asked Mike Wheeler what the best decision of his life was, he would tell you it was the day that he agreed to be Will Byers’ friend. 

That’s where it all started. The Party. 

First it was only him and Will in the beginning kindergarten. Then they met Lucas, a few weeks later. 

It didn’t take long before the three were closer than brothers. 

And that bond only grew stronger once they welcomed their fourth member of the Party in the fourth grade, Dustin. 

It was this bond that had led to Mike, Lucas, and Dustin searching for Will when he went missing. 

It was that bond that led him to El. 

El. 

The fifth member of the Party. The love of his life. (Not that he knew that at the time. In the beginning it was a simple crush, that soon turned into brooding infatuation during the year she was away.)

The sixth and final member of the Party, Max, would eventually come along. And although Mike didn’t like the idea of adding her to the Party, he would eventually come to love her like a sister, another best friend. 

Funnily enough, Mike’s dislike of Max would lead to his realization that he loved El. 

And lying here now, after being married to her for a year, Mike thinks that even though it was meeting Will that led him to El, maybe the universe was always going to put them together. 

It had to. It was always going to be them. In every alternate dimension. Always them. Together.


	2. The Winter Formal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for the prompt: "It's just a dance. What are you so afraid of?"
> 
> Mike is nervous about going to the Winter Formal. Turns out his night is going to go better than planned...
> 
> Pure fluff!
> 
> Rating: PG

Mike nervously attempted to tie his tie, without much success. Frustrated, he threw the tie to the other side of the bathroom on the floor. He looked back at his reflection, wishing there was some way to get out of this. He lost a bet, and now he was dealing with the consequences.

One month ago, when the date of the Winter Formal was announced, juniors Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, Will Byers, and Mike, himself, had made a bet.

Find a date to the dance… or suffer. At the time, Mike wasn’t bothered by the idea of this bet. After all, they make bets like this all the time. So why was this one so hard? Oh right, because Mike Wheeler has never had much luck with dating. 

Mike was the only one without a date. Lucas was the first of the boys to find someone, a girl named Max Mayfield, who they hadn’t talked to much, but was one of the very few people at Hawkins High School who didn’t make fun of them in a mean way. She was kind of a loner, never really finding a crowd to fit into, but she could easily fit into the Party if she really wanted. Dustin was next, asking a girl he met in Drama club. Even Will had found someone two weeks before the dance. 

And then there was Mike. Lonely and discouraged, Mike hadn’t even really tried to find a date. (Not that he knew, but if he had actually tried, he wouldn’t have had to look very hard to find someone. )

Nancy rapped on the bathroom door, pulling Mike out of his thoughts. “Mike, hurry up, Mom wants to get pictures before you leave.”

Mike opened the door, revealing his older sisters face. She took one look at him and her annoyed expression softened. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked him concernedly. 

“Nothing, I just… don’t want to go to this stupid thing,” Mike answered, reaching down to grab the tie off of the floor. 

“Give it here,” Nancy said, grabbing the tie from his hand and looping it around his neck. “It’s just a dance. What are you so afraid of?” 

“Lost a bet. I was supposed to get a date, but I didn’t and now it’s open season for my friends to get me to do anything they want me to,” Mike told her. 

“There,” Nancy said, finishing his tie. “Mike, you need to relax. They are your friends. They won’t make you do anything too horrible. Besides, school dances can be fun. Promise me you’ll try to have fun tonight.”

“Yeah, yeah, fine. I’ll try. Thanks, by the way…. When did you learn how to tie a tie?” Mike looked at himself in the mirror, surveying the near-perfectness of his now tied tie.

“I used to tie them for Steve,” Nancy answered. 

A half hour later, after the million pictures his mother took, Mike was finally at the dance. He shifted his gaze through the crowd, looking for at least one of his friends, but instead his eyes got caught on someone else. 

A girl. A very pretty girl. She was sitting on the bleachers, also looking out into the crowd, but not in the direction Mike was standing. She was wearing a blue dress with pink accents. Her hair was short, twirling in curled strands around her head. Her face wore a small amount of makeup, just enough to show off her beauty without being over-the-top. 

Standing there, Mike realized he had been staring at her for far longer than he should have, but he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from her. 

Without consciously deciding, his feet began to carry him towards her. What was he doing? He didn’t know. It was like some magnetic pull was bringing them together. Mike kept moving, letting his heart do all the thinking instead of his brain. 

The girl noticed him just as he was less than ten feet away. She looked at him with her darkly distinct eyes, and stood up. 

“Um, hi,” Mike spoke first, surprising himself.

“Hi,” the girl answered shyly.

“I’m Mike.”

The girl smiled at him, and he almost fainted. “Nice to meet you. I’m El.”

There was a pause in the conversation, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. It was as if all this was supposed to happen. 

As if on cue, the song that had been playing ended, and a new song began. Mike took this as a sign.

“D’you wanna dance?” he asked.

“I… don’t know how,” El answered. 

“I don’t know either… wanna figure it out?” Mike replied. El nodded. And Mike took her hand in his own. 

He could’ve sworn there was an audible “click” as their hands joined. Yes, this was exactly what was supposed to happen.

Mike pulled her out to the dance floor and placed her hands on his shoulders before placing his own on her waist. 

His heart leapt in his chest as he felt her pull him a few inches closer. 

Dancing with El was unlike anything he had ever felt before. In that moment, he knew that things were about to change for him. He knew that the girl in his arms was much more than just some strange girl he pulled off the bleachers, although she was that too. 

Unable to control himself, Mike felt himself leaning in. And that magnetic pull brought their lips together, in a kiss of fate. 

As the kiss drew to a close, El leaned her forehead against his, and Mike couldn’t stop the smile that appeared on his face. 

Across the gym, Mike’s friends watched the scene play out from afar. 

“Guess Mike got a date after all,” Lucas said. 

“Stranger things have happened,” Will replied, smiling a little to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next story coming very soon!


	3. A Keeper & A Chaser

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike has just graduated college, so he goes out to celebrate, when he meets El.... and uses a pick-up line on her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello peoples! This one is based on a prompt from tumblr. 
> 
> Rating: Teen & up

Mike Wheeler had never been the type to be bold or forward when it came to women. In fact, at the bright age of 22, he had yet to have a steady girlfriend. Sure he had been on dates, but the women were always the instigators and they never lasted. 

It was strange for him to go out to a bar, but here he was. As if something, someone had called him there. And as he sat there, he thought that maybe he should be celebrating. After all, he did just graduate college less than twelve hours ago. 

So Mike ordered a drink, and for the first time in his life, decided to let himself be free for the night. Free of work and his parents and everything in between. Free of himself. 

Lost in his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed the woman come in. But as he looked up to the other side of the bar, he found a pair of brown eyes staring back at him. And the woman they were attached to was all-consumingly beautiful. 

In his surprise, he began to believe that she was the reason he was here tonight. The someone who had led him here, as if by some kind of telepathic magic. 

They began a silent staring match from across the bar, and it gave Mike a chance to really look at the girl he was seeing. Shoulder-length brown wavy hair, dressed in clothes that were pretty, but maybe a size too big for her. (Not mentioning the eyes piercing into his soul.)

The lightest bit of alcohol swimming in his veins gave him the teensiest bit of courage, before he was standing up to go over to where she was seated. 

Quickly, in the boldest move he’d ever done, Mike wracked his brain for something to say to her. 

Unfortunately, the only thing that would come were Dustin’s cheesy pick-up lines. 

Mike sat down at the seat next to her and said, “I’m not sure what quidditch position you play, but I bet you’re a keeper.” 

As the words left his mouth, he inwardly cringed at the awkwardness of having actually said that... out loud. 

He had expected the woman to laugh at him or tell him to go away, but instead she simply smirked, replying, “That’s the dumbest pick-up line I’ve ever heard... especially since I’m a chaser.”

She broke into a grin, and Mike couldn’t help but laugh at her quick response. 

Damn. Now he was gonna have to admit to Dustin that one of his pick-up lines actually worked. 

“So you are a Harry Potter fan. Lucky shot, I guess,” Mike finally said, after the laughing had subsided. “I’m Mike.”

“El,” the woman replied with a smile. “And anyone who doesn’t love Harry Potter is a loser.”

Mike laughed, “Totally.”

The night went on in a cheerful daze. In fact, most of Mike’s nights would go in just the same happy spirit from now on, as long as El was with him. 

He learned a lot during those first few hours of knowing her. He learned that she was just as much nerd as he was, but perhaps not the regular kind of nerd, certainly not from the outside. 

He learned that she was an only child, and her parents had raised her in Indianapolis, not far from his own hometown of Hawkins. 

And in return, he told her about his life, even the embarrassing parts, because after a few minutes of talking to her, Mike was 99.9% sure that he was going to marry this woman. 

And he did, three years later. 

(To this day, Dustin still takes responsibility for giving Mike the pick-up line that he used on the woman he married.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this one was really short, but the next one should make up for that. The next story should be out in a few days at most.


	4. One Job, Two Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based on the prompt: Your OTP applies for the same job and have to work together for the whole day. 
> 
>  
> 
> Rating: Teen & Up (TV-14)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got a little out of hand, but it was super fun to write! Hope you enjoy this installment of the alternate dimension series!

El threw her coat on the rack, and practically fell onto the couch. 

“Bad day at work, I take it?” her roommate, Max said. 

“I hate my job. It’s the worst,” El whined, her voice muffled by the couch cushions. 

“Isn’t this just a temporary thing? Why don’t you check the job listings again?” Max asked, sitting next to El’s head with a bowl of ice cream. 

“I have checked them every day for the last six months... They never tell you how hard it can be to find a job after college. You go and get a degree and expect to just start working,” El sat up, grabbing Max’s ice cream. 

“Hey! I was eating that!”

“I need it more,” El said simply, earning an eye roll from Max. 

As if by some kind of miracle, El’s phone began to ring. 

“Ugh,” El complained, passing the bowl of ice cream back to Max and answering the phone, “Hello?”

“Good evening, am I speaking with Jane Hopper?” a man said. 

“Yes, this is she.”

“Hi, Jane. I’m principal Clarke at Hawkins Middle School, I heard from one of my staff that you were looking for a teaching position?”

“Um, yes, I am,” El sat upright, excitement building. 

“Would you be interested in coming to the school for our interview process? Your friend, Jennifer Hayes, gave me your information, and I have to say I’m quite impressed.”

“Absolutely!” El said excitedly. 

“I should mention that you aren’t the only candidate, but you are certainly one of the stronger ones, so I greatly look forward to meeting with you. Can you come Monday?”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Clarke. I look forward to meeting you, too. And yes, I’ll see you then,” El hung up the phone. 

“What was that about?” Max asked, still chowing down on the ice cream. 

“I just got an interview for a job at Hawkins Middle. Jennifer Hayes recommended me.” El and Jennifer Hayes had become friends in college, and had planned to stay in touch. El was thanking her lucky stars that she had kept that promise. 

——————

Monday came both too fast and too slow. El was nervous because this job was her only hope if she wanted to quit her current waitressing job. There was a lot of pressure to make a good impression. 

Then again, she didn’t want to get her hopes up. There were other candidates for the position. There was no guarantee that she would get the job. 

As she walked into the school office, she felt her hands shaking, and pushed them to her sides so they would stabilize. 

In the office, there were already ten candidates waiting. 

The interview process was long, or so it felt. It was really no more than an hour, but El felt like it was years. And when her turn finally came, she blazed through the interview with flying colors. 

After all the candidates had been interviewed, Mr. Clarke sent almost everyone away, except for El and a tall man with dark hair and eyes, who El found was actually very cute. 

“Ms. Hopper, Mr. Wheeler, the two of you are my two finalists. To make my final decision, I want to see how you work together, just to get a sense of your teamwork skills. So, for the remainder of the day, you will receive odd jobs from my staff members that you are to complete, as a team,” Mr. Clarke explained. 

He gave them their first task: retrieve a file for a child who has recently been disciplined, and provide your own assessment of that child’s accountability in the situation; and then he sent them on their way. 

El, wanting to be on top of their tasks, spoke first, “He said to ask Mrs. Larson for the file, do you know where her classroom is by any chance?”

“Yeah, this is where I went to middle school. Follow me,” the man said, beginning to walk down the hall. “Oh, and I’m Mike Wheeler, by the way. What’s your name?” Mike Wheeler… that sounded a little familiar. Where had she heard that name before?

“El. It’s nice to meet you,” El said politely, trying to not think about the fact that they are both trying to get the same job.

“Wait, El as in El Hopper?” he asked.

“Yeah, how did you know that?” she replied, looking up at him in confusion.

“Your dad married my friend Will’s mom. He’s talked about you a few times,” Mike told her, and then steered them down another hallway.

“Huh… small world, I guess. But, yeah, Will is great. I think he might have mentioned you once, now that I think about it.” El looked over at Mike, and began to stare at his face. She wasn’t really conscious of having stared, but El was beginning to realize that Mike was a very attractive guy. 

Then Mike looked at her, and her breath got caught in her throat. Those eyes.

“Here we are,” Mike said, gesturing to a door to their left with a name plate reading: Mrs. Larson.

El gingerly knocked on the door, waited a few seconds and then heard someone say “come in!” 

The tasks that were given to Mike and El to work on during the day were mostly simple, office jobs, such as printing and distributing memos or finding someone in the building. It was nothing like what they would actually be doing as a teacher, but El supposed that that was the point. 

The tasks were so easy, in fact, that it gave the two a lot of time to talk and get to know each other. El had quickly decided that even though only one of them was going to get the job, she wanted to stay in touch with Mike. They both knew Will, they both lived in Hawkins, and it shouldn’t be too hard. Mike was funny and cute, and he was just interesting to talk to in general. He made her laugh and blush and… oh God, she had a crush on him didn’t she?

The first half of the day, El learned about Mike’s life: where he lives, what he’s been doing, his friends, and his pastimes. The second half of the day, El learned about Mike’s past: his family, where he went to college, even a little bit of his dating history.

And El shared all of these things about her with him too. By the end of the day, El was not sure which one of them was going to get this job, but she was sure of one thing: she was falling for this guy who she’d only known for seven hours. 

They reported back to Mr. Clarke’s office as the final bell of the day dismissed it’s students. 

“Well, Mr. Wheeler, Ms. Hopper, I must say you both have done an excellent job today. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you who has the position just yet. I am waiting to hear from my counsel of teachers and what they think. It could be a few days before you hear from me, but I assure you both, with your determination and outstanding teamwork, neither of you have anything to worry about on the job front. If not this job, you’ll get the next.”

“Thank you, sir,” Mike said. 

“Thank you,” El echoed.

They were then dismissed from Mr. Clarke’s office and left to go to their cars.

“Hopefully I’ll be seeing more of you, since we both know Will?” El asked, as they headed for the exit.

“Yeah, definitely… But, um, I was thinking… I could give you my number, so it would be easier to stay in touch… if that’s okay…” Mike replied nervously. 

“Oh, of course,” El answered, pulling out her phone and handing it to him to put his number in. 

When he handed it back, they were at the door to the exit. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah, definitely,” El said, as they went their separate ways. 

El opened the door to her car and got in the driver’s seat, turning the ignition, only to hear a faint clicking sound. She tried again, but no luck. Her car was dead. 

“Shit,” she whispered to herself, looked up to see if Mike was still nearby. Maybe he would know how to jump her car or something. 

She saw that he was still outside of his car, and quickly got out to catch his attention. 

“Hey, Mike?” she yelled, feeling the cool drops of the rain that were beginning to fall on her head. 

“Yeah?” he shouted from his car. 

“You wouldn’t happen to know how to jump-start a car would you?” she asked hopefully. 

“Your car won’t start? You have jumper cables?” 

“Um, I don’t know, let me check,” El ran to the back of her car and opened the trunk. She rifled around in a bag that was back there and eventually came up with some cables. God bless her father for putting this bag for emergencies in here. “Got some!”

“Okay, just give me a second, I’ll pull up next to you so I can jump you,” Mike answered. 

Five minutes later, Mike was attaching the cables to the battery of El’s car, while she was waiting for the signal to start the engine. 

“Okay, try it,” Mike told her. She turned the ignition... and heard nothing at all. 

“Just a sec,” Mike said, re-examining the cables and the battery. “Try again.” She did. Nothing happened. 

A few minutes passed, and then Mike appeared by her window. “When was the last time you had your battery replaced?” 

“Uh... never?” El cringed. She really wished she knew more about this car stuff. 

“Well, that’s the problem. You need a new one. If you want, I can call Hawkins Auto Repair for you,” Mike said. 

“Oh my gosh, thank you,” El answered. 

“No problem.” Mike pulled out his phone and made the call, pacing around the front of her car as he talked. A few minutes later he came back. “They said that they can come pick your car up here if you leave the keys and they’ll fix it for you. I can give you a ride home.”

“Holy shit, thank you so much! Mike, you are the kindest person! You’re a lifesaver,” El exclaimed grabbing her things and leaving the keys in her car. 

“Well, I couldn’t live with myself if I left a pretty girl out in the rain,” Mike replied, sending El’s heart into a flutter. 

The drive home wasn’t long, but El felt like electricity was pulsing through her veins. Mike was easy to talk to, but now that they were talking outside of the school building, their conversation had turned into something more flirty and fun than the simple get-to-know-ya conversation they’d been having before. And it was everything. 

Mike dropped El off at her apartment, and she thanked him again before heading for her front door. 

Once safely in her own home, El leaned back against the door, taking a deep breath. 

“You okay?” Max asked her. 

“Oh, I didn’t know you were here,” El said a little embarrassed. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

“Got out of work early today,” Max explained. “Wanna watch Friends with me?” 

“Oh absolutely,” El answered quickly, taking a seat next to Max on the couch and thanking the heavens for some normalcy. 

———————

The first text message El received from Mike was a picture of Will in grade school. His hair was styled in a bowl cut and El giggled so hard she almost fell off the couch. 

“Oh my god, what are you laughing at? Rachel is about to kiss Ross!” Max yelled, as the TV blared on. 

“Look at this picture of Will,” El giggled, turning her phone towards Max. 

Max turned to look and spit out her Coke. “Holy shit! Byers was such a nerd!” Both girls began to laugh so hard, that they couldn’t breathe. “Wait, who sent that?”

“Oh, um, it was just some guy I met at the interview. He’s friends with Will,” El told her. 

“What’s with that look on your face?” Max pressed. “You’re blushing... oh my god, you like him!”

“Max, can you please just... not,” El begged. 

“Oh no way! You never have crushes, El. What’s so different about this guy?” Max asked. 

“I don’t know, he’s just... really sweet and nice and he helped me get home because my car went to shit.” El laid her head against the back of the couch, hoping that Max would drop the subject soon. 

“Well, in all seriousness, El, I think you should go for it. You’re young, hot, smart... you’ve got the whole package. Any guy would be lucky to be with you.”

“Thanks, Maxie,” El said, curling up to Max. 

———————

The next day, El went to work for about 10 minutes before deciding enough was enough. In the time she had been there, she had spilled coffee on herself, had been yelled at by a random customer for taking too long, and had been informed that she needed to cover for someone who was sick during the evening shift. 

And so El did something that was so unlike herself, something so bold and badass that she almost couldn’t believe she’d done it. 

She’d walked up to her boss, told him that she was done, and told him to go to hell. 

She better get that job now. If she didn’t, she’d be in big trouble. 

Now, sitting back in the comfort of her own home, El decided to text Mike. 

(9:27am) El: guess who just quit her job and told off her boss! lol hope I don’t end up homeless!

(9:28am) Mike: congratulations! sorry ab the possible homelessness tho. 

(9:29am) El: thanks. worst comes to worst I’ll just end up working for my dad at the station. 

(9:30am) Mike: oh yeah, your dad’s a cop. What’s that like?

The two texted for hours, learning more about each other, and sending funny memes and pictures. El’s favorites were the pictures of Will that Mike would send. Each one seemed to paint her stepbrother in a worser light, and El couldn’t get over how dorky he was. 

Later, when Max came home, El tried to hide her smiles, but Max was too quick and El too transparent. However, luck was on El’s side and Max only badgered her for information once. 

As El went to sleep that night, she smiled at the bright light of her phone screen, staring at the last message Mike had sent her. 

(1:53am) Mike: sweet dreams, it’s really great talking with you ;)

————————

El woke up to the sound of her phone’s ringtone, an old 80s song she used to listen to with her dad. 

“Uuuugghh,” she said as she rolled over to reach her phone. She picked it up and checked the screen. “Damn it, Will,” she muttered, answering. 

“Hello?” 

“Hey little sister! You awake yet?” her stepbrother’s voice said too cheerily for it being 8:00 am. 

“Ugh, no. What do you want?” El asked. 

“Well... I’m having some friends over today and thought maybe you’d want to join. I have Eggos and coffee,” Will offered. 

“You could’ve led with the Eggos and coffee part, you know. And maybe, next time text me so you won’t wake me up,” El said. 

“Ah, but that was my plan in the first place. Knowing you, you won’t be going back to sleep now that you’ve been up for a full five minutes.”

“I hate you, Byers,” El groaned. 

“Love you too, Ellie. See you soon,” Will hung up. 

Two hours later, El was pulling her now fixed car into Will’s driveway. 

“I see you got your car back,” that all too familiar voice spoke from Will’s porch. 

“Mike! I didn’t know you were coming,” El said. 

“Well, I am Will’s best friend so... Anyways, how are you?” Mike asked politely. 

“Tired... was up kinda late last night texting,” El answered, beginning that flirtatious vibe that they had left off on. 

“Hmm, who was the lucky guy that got to enjoy your virtual company?” Mike smiled. 

“I’m looking at him,” El blushed lightly. 

They were standing only about two feet apart from each other now, and El couldn’t remember how she had gotten there. It was like a magnet pulling her and Mike closer by the second. 

“Oh hey, El!” Another voice chimed in, that of her kinda annoying brother. “I see you’ve met Mike.”

“Oh, um, yeah. We met a couple days ago, actually,” Mike said. “At that interview I told you about.”

“Oh.. well, okay. Come in, I have your Eggos and coffee ready. I knew that if I didn’t, there would be hell to pay.” Will led the way into his house, Mike and El both trailing behind. 

It was a little awkward trying to flirt with Mike when Will and their other friends were there, but El also found it exhilarating. 

El could tell that Mike was getting more and more impatient with being around his friends. And after lunch, he finally broke. 

“Hey, you wanna talk out on the porch?” he asked El. 

“Sure, lead the way,” El smiled and followed. 

They discretely walked outside and El felt a sigh of relief escape her. 

“Thank god,” Mike said, turning to face her. Then that magnetism pulled them again, and they were standing inches from each other. 

El felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest. Her palms were becoming clammy and her breath caught in her throat. 

Barely whispering, Mike leaned towards her saying, “Did I mention that you’re beautiful?” 

And then his lips were on her, and it was ten times better than she could’ve imagined it. It started off soft and sweet, but that lasted only for a few moments before they were making out on Will’s porch. 

And of course, because they were not entirely alone, Will just had to come interrupt. 

“Hey guys, what are y—? Oh my god!” Will screamed. 

They broke apart, and El just began to notice how wrapped up in each other they had been. 

“Um...” Mike began. “So, um, yeah.”

“What is this?!” Will yelled. 

“We haven’t really talked about it yet,” El said. 

Will looked at them for what felt like an eternity. “I feel like I should be mad, but I’m not sure which one of you I’m mad at.”

“How about neither? Neither sounds good,” Mike said. 

“Both,” Will replied. “I think both. I mean, you guys met like two days ago and you’re out here making out. You guys don’t even know anything about each other.”

“That’s not true,” Mike began. “I know that El is short for Eleanor, her middle name. I know that she’d fight anyone for a waffle and that she loves you more than anyone else in her life, except for maybe her dad.” Then Mike turned towards El, “And I know that even as I say this, I sound insane, but I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”

El smiled and said, “Me either.”

Will, unable to fathom what he’d walked into, was speechless. And without a word, left them alone. 

“He’ll get over it. He probably already is,” El said. 

“You’re probably right,” Mike agreed. “Wanna get out of here?”

“Definitely.”

————————

“Is it going to be weird... only one of us is going to get that job,” El said. They were in Benny’s Burgers downing milkshakes. 

“You’ll probably get it. And no, it won’t be weird. I’ll be happy for you,” Mike told her. 

“You’re really sweet, Mike Wheeler.”

“And you’re really cute, El Hopper.”

Just then, El’s phone began to ring. 

She picked it up and saw who was calling. “It’s Mr. Clarke,” El looked up at Mike. 

“Answer it,” he said, smiling. 

El picked the phone up to her ear, “Hello?”

“Hello, Jane. I am very pleased to inform you that you are our new 5th and 6th grade English teacher! You start in two weeks.”

“Oh my gosh, thank you so much!” El said. They finished the conversation with a few pleasantries and then hung up. 

“Congratulations, I’m so proud of you,” Mike said, smiling. 

Then Mike’s phone began to ring. “Hello?” he answered. 

“Hello Michael! A funny thing happened in the last two days. My 7th and 8th grade English teacher quit, and instead of going through the process of finding yet another teacher, I thought that there was no one better suited for this job than you. I’ve given the previous job to El, but you only had one vote less than El when I met with my counsel of teachers.”

“Thank you so much, Mr. Clarke,” Mike said. 

“I take it you accept? You start in two weeks.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you,” Mike hung up, and looked at El. “He offered me a different position.”

“Holy shit, Mike! I’m so happy for you!” El exclaimed. 

The rest of the day went by in a perfect bliss. 

“Let’s go fall in love,” Mike told El. 

“I think I’m already halfway there,” she replied, smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming soon: "Having the same enemy doesn't make us friends."


	5. Not Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based on the prompt: "Having the same enemy doesn't make us friends."
> 
> Rating: Teen & Up (TV-14)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg, it's been awhile!! Sorry it took me so long to update this fic, but I assure you this should make up for that! It's the longest one-shot so far! It actually got away from me a little bit, I had to hold some stuff back. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it and remember that writers love comments!!
> 
> (Also, I didn't proofread, so please... forgive my mistakes.)

El was at her last nerve. It was hot. It was the first day of her senior year of high school. And the person who she hated more than anyone else in the world was currently invading her space. 

Troy Harrington, a complete slime ball, so disgusting to even look at, was standing in her way. 

“Come on, babe. Just one date,” he said coming closer to her.

This scene had played out many times before. Troy would go a little too far and El would insult him to his face (even if he didn’t always realize he was being insulted). El could almost count on it happening at least twice a week at school, sometimes he would even catch her outside of school. This had been the routine for them for the past three years.

Any other day, and El would have been fine with the normal routine, and just called him a stupid idiot or something. But today? No, today was not a good day to mess with El Hopper.

She looked up at his face, standing her full five feet and three inches (plus a couple extra thanks to her combat boots), and proceeded to knee him in the crotch as hard as she could. 

Troy howled in pain and fell onto his knees.

El leaned down and whispered into his ear, “If you so much as come within ten feet of me again, I will castrate you. Understand?” 

Troy couldn’t speak, but nodded, showing that he did understand. El took joy in the fact that he looked more afraid of her than she had seen him afraid of anything. 

El stood up straight, and walked through the crowd that had been forming since the beginning of their altercation. The other students moved out of her way, afraid to cross her and unleash her wrath upon them as well. 

Once past the crowd, El dropped her skateboard to the floor, hopped on, and skated her way to her English class.

Her luck, however, just wasn’t good today, as Mr. Wilson, the vice principle spotted her. 

“Jane Hopper! No skateboarding in the hall! How many times do we have to have this discussion?!” he shouted at her. 

“Until you ignore it,” El answered with a devious smile, skidding to a halt and scuffing the floor.

“You do realize I have to give you detention for this,” Mr. Wilson said.

“Oh! Should I act like I actually care?” El replied, smiling again, and heading into English to find her best friend. 

And sure enough, said best friend was waiting for her, eagerly bouncing in her seat, making her red hair bounce.

“El, I just got a text from Will saying that you kneed Troy in the balls, PLEASE tell me it’s true,” Max Mayfield said.

“Of course it’s true. That asshole deserves it,” El answered, sitting next to her. “I just got detention for skating again.”

“At least you still have a skateboard to get detention for riding, my parents still won’t give mine back,” Max said, propping up her head with one of her arms on the desk.

“Yeah, well Dad will probably be pissed at me for getting detention on the first day of school, so he’ll probably take mine again.”

“Hey,” Max exclaimed, “Maybe we should invest in some backup boards for when our parents give us shit.”

“Hell yes, I hate walking like a normal person.”

When El and Max first became friends, El admired Max for her skateboarding skills. Max helped El learn how to ride one and ever since, they could be found skating all over town together. 

——————

Mike Wheeler wasn’t the type of guy to get involved in fights, so why did he? 

Really he wasn’t doing anything out of the norm to piss off Troy, but apparently El Hopper had taken him down a few pegs the other day and his mood was horrible. 

So that’s probably why Troy didn’t waste any time punching him this time. 

He had been walking past Troy and some of his goon friends in the hall and overheard them talking about all the girls they scored on. Mike, of course, was smart enough to know that those guys were scoring on the exact same amount he was... absolutely none. Unable to control the snort that came from him, Troy had of course heard him. 

“You got something you wanna say, Frog Face?” Troy said, stepping up in front of Mike. 

“Oh it’s nothing really,” Mike answered, trying to walk past. 

But Troy had other ideas. He pushed Mike back a couple feet and didn’t even bother to give him time to talk before punching him straight in the nose. Blood began to trickle down into Mike’s polo. 

Despite the fact that Mike and Troy were the same height and Mike was skinnier and less muscular than Troy, Mike was a lot stronger than Troy had thought. 

All in all, the fight was a pretty even one. For each punch Troy threw, Mike threw another, and it went on like this until Mr. Wilson showed up. 

Five minutes later, the two boys were sitting in his office. 

“Boys, this is only the fourth day of school and you are already fighting in the halls? You both need to take a hard look at how you want the rest of your senior year to go, because if this is how you’re planning on spending your last year here, we will have to expel you.”

“Sorry, sir,” Mike said. 

Troy said nothing. 

“Mr. Harrington, seeing as this isn’t your first brawl, I’m going to suspend you for three days, starting today, so if you would please get your things and go,” Mr. Wilson said. 

Troy picked up his backpack off the floor and left the office without a word. 

Mr. Wilson turned to Mike. “Michael, I’m sure that whatever happened that caused you to fight with Troy was not as much your fault as his. You’re a good kid. I want you to stay that way, however I can’t excuse your actions. Because this is your first offense, I’m going to give you a detention only.”

Mike released a breath of relief. “Thank you, sir.”

“Just stay out of trouble, okay? Finish out your high school years strong.”

Detention. Mike couldn’t believe his luck. 

He met his friends, Lucas and Dustin, in second period. 

“Holy shit, dude!” Dustin shouted as Mike walked in. Class hadn’t started yet. 

“You got into a fight with Troy and technically, you won!” Lucas said looking amazed. 

“How did I win? We were both equally bloody when it was over,” Mike replied, sitting in the seat behind Dustin. 

“He just walked out of school and you’re still here, which means he got suspended and you didn’t!” Dustin said. 

“I still got detention, though.”

“Hey, that’s still better than him, that’s a win, my man,” Lucas told him. 

The bell rang loudly and the boys had to shelf this conversation for later. 

——————

El couldn’t be more excited for the weekend. This first week of school had sucked on a whole new level. She had to ride with her dad to school ever since she got detention on Monday and her skateboard was locked in her dad’s office at the police station. 

She now had to get through said detention before actually enjoying her weekend. 

El Hopper wasn’t a stranger to detention. She had gotten it several times over the years for things ranging from graffitiing the lockers to sneaking into the school at night to steal from the AV club room (they always left fancy gadgets that El found fascinating even if she wouldn’t admit it). 

El didn’t even mind detention so much. It was quiet and she usually got a little bit of homework done. 

El walked into the room where detention was held and took her usual seat in the very back of the room. There were already a few kids there, all of them regulars in detention. 

Five minutes later, El was just starting to do her homework when a boy in her class who she recognized as one of those AV nerds walked in. El’s eyebrows rose in surprise at seeing someone like him in here. 

The boy was tall, had dark hair, and was sporting a bruised nose and cheekbone that gave away his reasoning for being here. 

El watched as the boy sat in the desk directly in front of her, not looking at anyone as he sat his backpack on the desk. 

“Hey,” El whispered. 

The boy turned to look at her, surprised he was even being spoken to. 

“Who did that to your face?” El asked. 

“Troy Harrington,” the boy answered. 

“He’s an asshole,” El stated. 

“Uh, yeah he is,” the boy said smiling a little. 

“So, um, does that mean you’re the kid that got him out of here for three days?” 

The boy nodded. 

“Damn, that’s awesome. What happened anyways?” El asked. 

“He was just in a bad mood I think. Wanted to pick a fight with someone. I got some good hits in, though. He’s got a black eye.”

“Shit, sorry. That’s probably my fault. I pissed him off,” El apologized. 

“Yeah I heard about that... El right?” The boy stuck his hand out. 

El looked at his hand. When was the last time she shook someone’s hand when meeting them? This kid certainly was very unique. She finally took his hand and shook it. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“I’m Mike,” he said. 

“Well, Mike, you are more badass than I gave you credit for. Most squeaky clean guys wouldn’t have been able to hold their own with Troy, but it seems like you did a pretty good job.”

“Thanks... I guess.” 

Detention officially started then, leaving El to her homework. 

Two hours went by in a blur, and when it was finally time to go, El felt relief wash through her body. 

“Weekend plans?” Mike asked, seeing her excitement. 

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” El said in a way that was a little serious, teasing, and flirty at the same time. 

“Um... okay then. Just making conversation,” Mike answered in confusion. 

“Having the same enemy doesn’t make us friends,” El told him as they walked through the exit doors. 

“Oh, um, I didn’t mean—I just, you were nice to me,” Mike stuttered. 

“Well... if you wanted to be friends... play your cards right and maybe it’ll happen,” El said, definitely more flirty than anything else. Since when did she flirt with random boys she met in detention?! 

“Oh... okay, like how?” Mike replied, catching on. 

“Hm, let me think... keep doing badass stuff, maybe wear a little more black,” El teased. 

Mike snorted. “Well, I don’t think I have as much black as you currently have on right now, but I think I can figure something out.” 

“See ya later, Mike.” 

“Bye El.”

——————

Mike wasn’t really sure what had happened at detention with El Hopper. She definitely didn’t strike him as the friendly type, but it was her that had spoken to him. 

Mike had knew who El was since the day she started freshman year. Well... everyone did. She was the new kid, but she also had a unique look. 

She wore black from head to toe and if she looked at you, it was as if she could make you piss your pants with one thought. She was edgy and scary. The only normal thing about her was her hair, which she wore in its natural brown waves that stopped at her shoulders. 

Mike, along with the rest of Hawkins High, had been hypnotized by her strange beauty, even with her fierce personality. 

It wasn’t long before she created a group that is known to everyone at Hawkins High as the “Punk Bitches.” 

They started out as just El and Max Mayfield, who she had made friends with her first week. 

Soon after, Will Byers began joining them at lunch. Will had never really been one to keep friends. He mainly kept to himself until El had brought him into her inner circle. 

Mike had always been afraid of meeting those three together because if the rumors were true, they had gotten away with some pretty wild stuff. 

But the El Hopper he had met tonight? 

She was different. 

She wasn’t different in the way she conducted herself, so resentful of the rules and unafraid of authority, but it was the way she had spoken to Mike as if she was actually interested in what he had to say. 

It took Mike a while before he realized that she actually did want to hear what he had to say. 

And when she had started flirting? 

Mike saw her in a whole new light... or rather, dark, since that was all she allowed herself to wear. 

So, Monday morning, Mike built up a bout of confidence, wrote a note on a little piece of paper, and slipped the note into El Hopper’s locker. 

——————

El had hoped that she would be able to talk to Mike again soon. And as it turns out, he seemed just as eager because when El opened her locker, a small note fell out and landed on the floor in front of her feet. 

She bent over to pick it up and unfolded it, and began to read:

211-6453 call me sometime, but be careful, you’ll probably get my mom 

-Mike ;) 

El felt a fierce blush spread across her face (seriously, when did she even think about boys like this?!).

She tried to think about something else as she stuffed the note into her bag, hoping no one could see how red her face had gotten. 

Unfortunately, Max was already walking up to El, a smirk across her face at catching El in a vulnerable moment. 

“Whatcha got there?” Max asked, skateboard tucked under her arm. 

“Nothing,” El tried to play it off. 

“I don’t think it’s nothing. Not when you look like a tomato... come on, El, friends don’t lie.”

“Okay, fine, but you can’t make fun of me,” El said, pulling the note back out and handing it over. 

Max’s face lit up in surprise as she read the note. 

“Oh. My. God! Who’s Mike? There are like six Mikes at this school,” Max asked. 

“I’m not telling. You’ll do something to embarrass me...”

“Ugh, El seriously? I won’t. Just tell me who your new boyfriend is,” Max pleaded. 

“El has a boyfriend?” the voice of Will Byers said, as he walked to them. 

“He’s not my boyfriend, we just met in detention,” El said, annoyed. 

“He gave her this,” Max handed the note over to Will. 

“Hey, I know this handwriting! This is AV Club Mike, we have a few classes together,” Will said, handing the note back to El. 

“What?! No way! That kid is such a dork, El!” Max laughed. 

El rolled her eyes, ignoring her. 

“Are you actually going to call him?” Will asked. 

“I don’t know... maybe...” 

The bell rang before anyone could respond, and El took the opportunity to leave. 

“I’ve gotta go, see you guys at lunch!” she yelled, running away from them with her backup skateboard she had bought with Max over the weekend under her arm. 

———————

Mike was sure that she wasn’t going to call. He’d been sitting on the couch in his basement since he got home, waiting for El to call. But now it was nearly 11:00pm, and he would have to go bed soon. 

He was just about to give up, when the phone finally rang. 

“Hello?” he asked into the phone. 

“Hey, it’s El.” El. The girl he had obsessed over for the last three days. The girl he was forming a crush on much more quickly than he could’ve expected. 

“Oh, um, hey... how are you?” Mike tried to sound confident. 

“I’m good, how about you?” 

They began to talk about anything and everything. Mike’s heart began to race as the conversation became more and more flirty. 

Before he knew it, they’d been talking for nearly two hours. 

“Shit, it’s late... I should probably go,” he said. 

“Okay, but before you go... I was thinking... I have some business to take care of tomorrow night, and I thought maybe you could come help me.” 

“What kind of business?” Mike asked. 

“The adventurous kind. Meet me outside your house at eleven?” 

“Yeah, definitely... how do you know where I live?” Mike asked. 

“My dad is a cop, I know where everyone lives...” El answered mysteriously before hanging up. 

Mike put the phone back and leaned back against the wall. It was now one in the morning, and Mike wanted to do anything BUT sleep. He couldn’t stop thinking about her or the kinda-sorta date he had with her tomorrow. 

———————

El woke up in the morning with barely enough time to get ready before having breakfast. 

When she finally sat down at the table, her father, stepmother, and stepbrother were already their waiting for her. 

“Cutting it a little close today, El,” her dad, Hopper said. 

“Maybe if you weren’t up until one in the morning talking to your boyfriend, you wouldn’t sleep late,” Will suggested. 

El knew what was coming, and she was going to kill Will for it. 

“Boyfriend? What boyfriend?” Hopper asked. 

“Jesus, Will, I told you he’s not my boyfriend!” El exclaimed, giving Will the death stare. 

“Regardless, you were on the phone with a boy until one o’clock,” Will said. 

“Who is he El?” Joyce asked curiously. 

“Just some guy I met in detention,” El shoved a large piece of an eggo into her mouth. 

“Great,” Hopper said sarcastically. 

“He’s not like... a delinquent, he just got in trouble for fighting Troy.”

“Troy Harrington? Well, I guess anyone could do that,” Hopper said. “So, are you going to go out with this boy?” 

“Ugh, Dad!”

“Hey, I’m just asking!” 

———————

Mike woke up in the best mood he’d been in for a long time. He got ready for school and couldn’t keep the smile off his face. 

“Woah, woah, what’s with you?” Dustin asked him when he first saw Mike. 

“Nothing,” Mike said, piling his books into his locker. 

“No, no, he’s right, there’s something going on,” Lucas added. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mike said, but the corners of his mouth turned up and gave him away. 

“You’re smiling... he’s smiling, are you seeing this Lucas?” 

“Yeah, he is! What’s got you so happy Mike?” Lucas asked. 

Mike decided it would be easier if he didn’t lie to his friends, so he motioned for them to come closer. 

“I have a date tonight,” he told them quietly. 

“What? No way!” Lucas said. 

“Who?” Dustin asked. 

“El Hopper,” Mike answered. 

Lucas and Dustin’s faces went from excited to scared. 

“No, dude, no,” Lucas shook his head. 

“What?” Mike asked. 

“Dude, she’s like... psychotic.”

“No, she’s not. We were talking on the phone for two hours last night, she’s not like what people think.” Mike put his backpack on his back and turned to walk to his first period class. 

“He’s gonna get himself killed, isn’t he?” 

“Yep.” 

———————

“So let me get this straight,” Max said from her spot at the lunch picnic table. “You are actually going on a date with him? AV nerd, honor student Mike Wheeler??”

“I don’t know if I would call it a date, it’s more like an adventure,” El answered, shoving a french fry into her mouth. 

“Sounds like a date to me. You’ll be alone, together, in the middle of the night... date!” Will said. 

“Mhm, your step bro is right, El,” Max agreed. 

El rolled her eyes. “Whatever, okay? So what if it is? I can go out with Mike Wheeler if I want to.”

“Nobody’s saying you couldn’t, but just know that this is going to stir up the gossip chain when it becomes public,” Max said. 

“What are you talking about?” El took a drink of her Coke, glaring over at Max. 

“El, you and Mike are complete opposite people. Neither of you have ever had a steady boyfriend or girlfriend and it’s going to be noticed.”

“Well, I don’t care about that,” El said as she stood up. “I gotta go to my locker, I’ll see you guys later.”

El walked across the yard towards the entrance. “Ten bucks says she makes out with him tonight,” Max said. 

“You’re on,” Will replied. 

———————

That night Mike spent an hour trying to find an outfit to impress El. She joked about him wearing black, but Mike was determined to find at least something black to wear. 

Turns out it’s a lot harder than he thought. But eventually, he was able to find one black T-shirt at the back of his closet. He paired it with jeans and tried to not appear nervous. 

His parents and little sister were all in bed, so no one should run into him. 

Mike had never snuck out before in his life. He was a little nervous, but he figured he was safe because his family knew he got up in the night to get a drink of water. Maybe if they heard him going downstairs, they would think he was getting his drink. 

At 10:50pm, Mike quietly walked down the stairs and out the front door. El wasn’t here yet, so Mike sat on the step in front of the door. 

Ten minutes later, Mike heard the sound of El’s skateboard rolling down the street. The girl in question appeared in front of his house, looking as pretty as ever, dressed in black pants, a black hoodie, and surprisingly white sneakers. 

“You ready?” El said to him. 

“Uh.. yeah,” Mike answered. He still couldn’t believe how he would be spending his night. 

“Can you drive? It’s not far, we can walk, but it’d be easier if you could drive,” El asked. 

“Oh, yeah, I can drive,” he said. 

“Great!” 

They both got into Mike’s mother’s station wagon. Mike turned the key and prayed to God that it wouldn’t wake his parents. He turned to look at El and his voice almost got lost because just looking at her, she was so beautiful, especially in the pale moonlight. “Where to?” he managed to say. 

“The police station,” El told him. 

“Why?” Mike asked in confusion as he began to drive down the street. 

“Because my dad took my Walkman and it’s in his office. We’re breaking in and stealing it back.”

“We’re breaking into the police station!” Mike almost swerved. 

“Trust me, it’s easy, and we won’t get caught. I promise,” El said. 

Mike was nervous. Okay... maybe that’s an understatement. But all it took was for her to look at him with those big brown eyes and promise him that it would be okay, and he felt like he was on top of the world. 

Ten minutes later, they were parked in front of the station. 

“Okay, ready?” El asked. She looked so excited, it was cute. 

“Yeah,” Mike said, mustering up some confidence. 

They walked up to the door and El got down on her knees in front of the lock. She pulled a bobby pin out of her hair, putting it in the lock and twisting it around strategically. A few seconds later, Mike heard a small click and the door was open. 

“Holy shit, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone do that in real life,” he said. 

“I can teach you sometime. It’s a useful skill to have, especially when you lock yourself out of the house,” El smiled at him. 

“Yeah, that’d be great.”

They walked into the empty and dark station. Mike followed El back a hallway and into a small office room. She walked around the big desk, and began to rifle through some of the drawers. 

It took only a few minutes before she found what she was looking for. “Here it is, found it!” she smiled as she held up the Walkman. 

“All this over a little Walkman?” Mike asked teasingly. 

“I don’t like to be controlled. This thing being taken away from me... well, I had to take it back.”

They made their way back out to the car, El carefully re-locking the door. Once back in the car, Mike felt a little sad. He didn’t want their little adventure to be over. 

But El turned to him saying, “I have an idea.”

She gave him directions as he drove, eventually stopping on the side of a paved road with no houses. 

“What are we doing here?” he asked her. 

“I’m teaching you how to skate, come on,” El said, getting out of the car. 

Mike got out too, looking nervously over at her. “I’m not very coordinated...”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you,” El told him. 

“I’m like a foot taller than you. If I fall on you, I’ll crush you,” Mike said. 

“And that’s a bad thing because??” 

Mike felt his face get hot at her forwardness, and he tried to not appear too nervous. 

“Okay, so basically the only way you’re going to learn is by practicing and just going for it. You can use me to stabilize yourself at first,” El said. 

Mike walked over to El and the skateboard, and hesitantly held onto El’s hands as he placed a foot onto the skateboard. 

“Do I just... push off?” Mike asked. 

El nodded. “Slowly.”

Mike pushed himself a little to get the board moving. It wasn’t as bad as he thought. He rolled across the pavement a few feet, and El walked along with him, never letting go. 

They went on practicing like this for a long time. Eventually Mike was able to do it on his own. 

He was slowly getting better at controlling the board and was starting to go faster. El was cheering him on as he sped up even more, but then he felt the board slip and he crashed directly on top of El. 

“Uh... sorry,” Mike said.

“You okay?” El asked breathlessly. Neither of them moved from their position on the ground. 

Mike felt a magnetic pull bringing him closer to El. In a surge of confidence, he leaned down and kissed her. 

She reciprocated the kiss, deepening it. 

It was a few kisses later when they finally came back up for air. 

“It’s getting pretty late,” El smiled at him. 

Mike looked at his watch, which read 3:00am. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

“Take me home?” El asked. 

“Yeah,” Mike answered, walking back to the car. 

Back at El’s house, Mike had gotten out to tell El bye. 

El looked him over, smiling. “I do like that color on you,” she teased. 

“Yeah, well it’s the only shirt I own in this color,” he laughed. 

“Well, we’ll just have to fix that won’t we?” El leaned up to kiss him. 

Once the kiss broke, Mike began to stutter, “So um, I know this was kinda like our first date or whatever, but um, could I pick you up for school tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” El smiled. “I’d like that.”

“Night, El.”

“Night, Mike.”

————————

El woke up feeling completely drained, but she couldn’t regret the night before. She had only gotten three and a half hours of sleep, but she felt excited to see Mike again soon. 

She started getting ready for school, when suddenly there was a knock on the door. 

“Come in,” El said, applying her eyeliner. 

Will came in, carrying a waffle and handed it to her. “You missed breakfast.”

“Yeah, I was up pretty late,” El said nonchalantly, taking a bite of the waffle. 

“Yeah, I know. I saw you kissing Mike outside at three in the morning,” Will smiled at her. 

El rolled her eyes. “Of course you did. What? Were you waiting up for me or something?”

“No, I just happened to be awake because I fell asleep really early,” Will said, sitting on El’s bed. “You’re usually skating to school by now, aren’t you going to be late?”

“No, I have a ride.” El began throwing her things into her backpack. 

“So, my mom offers you to ride with us to school and you always turn us down, but then Mike offers you a ride and you’re going to go?” 

“I never said Mike was picking me up,” El looked at Will annoyed. She knew he was going to be such a pest about her new relationship. 

“But he is, isn’t he?” Will had a shit-eating grin on his face. 

El didn’t answer, and headed down the stairs with her backpack. She could sense that Will was still right behind her. 

El went out the front door, in perfect timing to see Mike’s car pull up. She happily ran over and got in the passenger seat, while Will stood at the front door staring. 

“Hey,” Mike said, smiling at her. 

“Hey yourself,” El leaned over and placed a quick kiss on his lips. 

Mike began to drive, and El looked over at his outfit. He wasn’t wearing the black T-shirt anymore, but she could tell he was wearing the darkest clothes he could find: a navy blue shirt and dark jeans. 

It was cute that he was trying. She wouldn’t mind if he wore his normal clothes, though. She had always thought they were cute on him. 

They arrived at the school ten minutes later. 

El hadn’t expected to feel very different showing up at school with her boyfriend. Was he her boyfriend? They hadn’t talked about it yet, but she felt like he was. Last night had changed everything, and she’d never felt like this before. 

El reached for the door handle when Mike suddenly said, “Wait.”

She watched as he got out and walked around the car, opening the door for her. She couldn’t believe that people actually did that in real life... well, maybe he was the only one. 

She stood up and smiled, “What a gentleman.”

Mike just grinned and took her hand. She laced their fingers together and couldn’t believe how perfectly they fit, like two pieces of a puzzle. 

Walking into school holding hands with Mike, El couldn’t believe how many eyes were on them. 

Nothing had prepared her for the shocked faces, staring at them like they were a different species. Even her best friend was looking at her in surprise. 

El pulled Mike towards Max. “Mike, this is Max, my best friend.”

“Hello, nice to meet you,” Mike said, reaching out to shake Max’s hand. 

“Um, likewise... so you guys are... together now?” Max asked. 

“Yeah,” El admitted. 

“So, I was thinking you guys could join me and my friends for lunch in the AV room if you want,” Mike offered. 

“Yeah, I’ll see you then?” El said. 

“Yeah, see you later, El,” Mike kissed her and went to go to his locker, leaving the girls alone. 

Max didn’t say a word, but was smiling. 

“What?” El asked. 

“Oh, nothing... I just have a feeling that Will owes me ten bucks.”

———————

That day, everyone’s topic of discussion was Mike and El. It wasn’t fun for El to receive comments about her slumming it with a nerd. It wasn’t fun for Mike to have jocks coming up to him asking how he got such a hot piece of ass. But at the end of the day, they were made for each other, and it didn’t matter what anyone else thought. 

Eventually everyone would come to accept that wherever Mike went, El went too, and vice versa. 

Their friends would become closer too. That first lunch wasn’t the last, as the two groups merged into one. They dropped the facade of being punk rock and AV nerds for real friendships. And eventually, Max fell for Lucas, and it was perfect. 

———————

Mike first met El’s dad and stepmother two weeks after they had started dating. 

Hopper had threatened him, but then told him how much he appreciated how happy Mike made his daughter. 

Joyce had complimented his manners, saying he was a good influence on El, who was known to break the rules a bit. 

Will had thoroughly embarrassed him, by telling El’s parents that they made out all the time. This had earned Mike a glare from Hopper. 

El met Mike’s family one week later. 

His mother had told her she must be pretty special for her son to fall for her this quickly, and that she was welcome anytime. 

His father didn’t say much, but had been polite to her, and told her he thought she was a nice girl. 

His sister Nancy, home for the weekend from college, had told her that her style was really cool and it had a good influence on Mike’s style. 

His other sister, Holly had adored her, wanting to know everything about her. 

They had their first fight two months later. It ended when Mike admitted that he loved El, who said it back without hesitation. 

El took Mike out to buy more black clothes, and in return, he took her out to buy more colorful clothes. 

They got in trouble a couple times, when Mike got caught sneaking out of El’s bedroom window by Hopper, or when El would come home from Mike’s house with her shirt on backwards. 

They went to prom together, and for the first time since she was little, El wore a pretty blue dress. 

When they graduated high school, Mike went to college and El stayed in Hawkins, working at the station with Flo. Mike came home almost every weekend, because he couldn’t bear to stay away. They talked on the phone every night. 

On their three year anniversary, Mike bought a ring. 

One year later, he proposed with it. He didn’t care that he wasn’t finished with school yet. She said yes, through happy tears. 

They moved into a small apartment near Mike’s college, and El got a temporary job as a waitress. 

Just after his college graduation, they got married in a small ceremony with their friends and family. 

A year later, El found out she was pregnant. Mike was so excited, he almost cried. 

The baby ended up being a little girl, who they named Grace. 

They gave Grace a little brother, Jimmy, three years later. 

They completed their little family with baby Ben, who came two years after Jimmy. 

It didn’t matter what life through at Mike and El. Because no matter what, they were together.

Together. Always together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to drop any prompts or requests for this fic below in the comments!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	6. Summer Camp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based on the request for Mike and El meeting at a summer camp. 
> 
> Pure fluff. Short and sweet. 
> 
> Rating: Teen & Up (TV-14) (but only because of language)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a Mike POV, which is always fun because I love Awkward!Mike.
> 
> Hope this makes you smile bc it is CUTE.

Mike Wheeler was incredibly embarrassed to be going to summer camp. It wasn’t so much that he didn’t enjoy it… it’s just that he’s fifteen, definitely older than almost everyone else who goes to camp. And it’s all his mother’s fault. “Go outside and have fun,” she said. “You need some outdoor experiences! It’s summer!” Mike had begged her to let him stay home, but she didn’t relent. Luckily for him, he would be too old next year to even be allowed to be a camper, but knowing his mother, she would probably force him to be a counselor. 

Mike used to love camp, hanging out with his three best friends, going fishing and canoeing, taking long hikes up to the caves. But now, he was two feet taller than some of the other campers, and it made him a little uncomfortable. If only you could go back in time and be ten years old again…

He knew that he wasn’t the only one of his friends that didn’t want to be there, even though all of them had agreed they would go. Lucas was just as bored with camp as Mike was, but once Mrs. Sinclair heard that Karen was sending Mike, it was a done deal that Lucas would have to go. Dustin only came because he wanted to see Suzie, a girl whom he’d met a couple years back and shared a semi-casual relationship with when they were at camp. Will only came because he didn’t want to be left alone in Hawkins.

Mike dropped his duffle bag on the bottom of a bunk bed. One month. That was all he had to get through. One month. He plopped down on the bed, resisting the urge to groan in annoyance. He could hear his friends, doing the same. 

“Hey assholes, get up! We’ve got the welcome dinner in ten minutes,” their counselor, Steve, yelled at them. They knew Steve pretty well, considering he was from Hawkins too. He was their go-to for any problems they had in the world of young adolescence. 

Mike got up from his bed to put his shoes back on. He wasn’t a big fan of the food at camp, but it was better than school food, so that was a plus. 

The boys walked into the cafeteria and found a table that was empty. Dustin went to go find Suzie, while the others grabbed some trays of food. Mike looked around, not surprised to see that most of the campers were between nine and twelve years old. Dustin came back angrily sitting down.

“What’s wrong Dustybun, where’s Suziepoo?” Lucas teased.

“She’s not here. She ditched me,” Dustin said, stabbing a piece of chicken. “She’s not here and she didn’t even tell me that she wasn’t gonna come.”

“Well, Dusty, you’ll just have to hang out with the rest of us miserable friends,” Lucas replied, patting Dustin on the back.

“Excuse me?” a voice to Mike’s left said. Mike turned to look and what he saw made him freeze. It was a girl, a really pretty girl, who looked to be about his age. She had short curly hair and big brown eyes. 

“Um… yeah?” he asked, looking at her curiously.

“Do you mind if I sit here? You guys are the only ones here my age, and I don’t know anyone here… so?” The girl stood with her tray, those brown eyes looking into his, and Mike felt like he couldn’t breathe. 

“Sure, yeah, okay,” Mike managed to say. The girl slid into the spot next to him and set her tray on the table, before looking back at him. 

“I’m El, what’s your name?” she asked. 

“Mike,” he answered. He heard someone clear their throat, and looked over at his friends who were all looking back at him expectantly. “Oh, and these are my friends, Lucas, Dustin, and Will.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you all,” El smiled at them. 

“You’ve never been here before, what makes you come to camp alone, when it’s the last year you can?” Mike asked. 

“My parents and I used to live in Indianapolis, so we weren’t exposed to the country much. But we’re moving to a more rural area, so they wanted me to get used to being in nature or some shit. I didn’t really want to come,” El admitted, looking a little embarrassed. 

“Well, if it makes you feel better, my mom made me come too.”

They talked for the rest of dinner, just getting to know one another. When El had to go back to her cabin, Mike finally turned his attention back on his friends for the first time since El sat down. 

“How’s your new girlfriend?” Dustin joked. Lucas and Will were also smugly grinning at him. 

“Oh, shut up, asshole,” Mike mumbled, but he couldn’t help the way his heart had raced at the word “girlfriend” and the thought of getting to see her again and having an entire month to get to know her… maybe camp won’t be so bad this year…

—————

Mike woke up the next day, hoping to see El, and was delighted when she ended up sitting with him and his friends for breakfast. He was even more happy when she told him what activities she was signed up to do today, because he was signed up to do over half of the same things. First up was fishing. 

They walked down to the lake together, the rest of the boys had a different activity. Mike had a lot of fun teaching El how to bait the hook and when to reel it back in. He especially loved the way she would look at him when he was talking, looking at him with her full attention like she didn’t want to miss anything he was saying. He liked when she got confused because she would have the most adorable facial expression, Mike almost always hesitated to answer her questions because it was so cute. 

By the second week of camp, Mike was starting to realize his feelings for El. He thought she was so pretty and funny, and she always smiled at him and made his heart flutter faster. 

The only problem, however, was that Mike had no idea if El liked him back. He constantly thought about how she always looked at him or smiled, but he’d seen her interact with a few others in the same way. What made him so special? And that was the exact reason why Mike hadn’t done or said anything about it yet, even though his friends were constantly teasing him about his crush.

But was it really just a crush? Mike often wondered to himself why he was so attracted to El. He couldn’t get her out of his thoughts no matter what he did. It was like she was always on his radar, on the forefront of his mind. It felt like more than a crush. It felt like he was falling in love with her… but that wasn’t possible. He barely knew the girl. They’d only met less than a couple weeks ago, there was no way he could be in love with her… right?

Mike was walking to his next activity one day on the third week of camp, when he saw a pair of familiar white, scuffed up converse swinging in the tree above him. 

“El?” he called out.

“Mike!” he heard El answer. She peeked her head out from behind a tree branch. 

“What are you doing?” Mike asked. 

“Ditching swimming in the lake. Wanna join?” she replied.

Mike smiled, “Hell yeah.” He began to climb up the tree and El made room for him on the large branch she was sitting on. He sat beside her, trying to ignore how close they were so that he could still think straight.

She was holding her phone, with one headphone in, leaving the other to dangle. Mike couldn’t help but stare at her. She looked so beautiful with her hair in a messy ponytail and her overall shorts. 

“What are you listening to?” he asked her. 

“Oh, um, just some old 80s music,” she answered embarrassed. 

“Can I?” he gestured to the other headphone, and she nodded. He put the earpiece in and immediately his ear was filled with the sound of John Mellencamp’s “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.” 

“I love this song!” Mike exclaimed, making El grin. 

“You like 80s music too?” she asked excitedly. 

“Oh, yeah! It’s better than a lot of today’s music,” Mike answered. 

El smiled, “I think so too… You are really the most interesting person I’ve ever met.” 

That caught Mike by surprise. “Really? I’ve always sorta thought I was just this boring nerd.”

El shook her head, “No, you’re a really really fun person to be around.”

Mike felt himself blush at her words. “Well,” he replied, “You’re the most interesting person that I’ve ever met, too. And the prettiest.”

El’s eyebrows went up in shock and Mike began to stutter, realizing what he just said. “Um, shit, I meant, um, I—“

“Mike,” El said, placing a hand on his shoulder to calm him. “It’s okay. And thank you, you’re not too bad yourself,” she teased, grinning at him. 

It was then, in that very moment, that Mike felt like the universe was trying to give him a message, trying to tell him that this was the moment. He looked at El, and thought of the way her cheeks had turned pink when he’d complimented her. They had less than two weeks of camp left, and then they would all have to leave and he might not get to see El ever again. He had more to gain than he had to lose, so he took the chance and leaned towards her. 

He placed his lips on hers and felt the electricity run through his body as she kissed him back. The kissing went on for a few minutes before they came back up for air. 

For the last week and a half of camp, Mike and El were inseparable. They went everywhere together, and ditched several activities, just to spend more time together. And when the end of camp came, they promised each other that they would call all the time, and they would try to meet up every once in a while. 

The drive home was sad for Mike. He knew he was pouting the whole way back to Hawkins, but he couldn’t help it. He missed the girl he’d fallen in love with.

But his mild depression dissipated one week later when he ran into El at Bradley’s Big Buy. It seems that the small town her parents had relocated her to, was in fact Hawkins, Indiana. 

And when next summer rolled around, Mike didn’t complain to his mother when she suggested he should be a camp counselor. Because if El was going to be one too, he couldn’t wait for their next adventure… even if that adventure included monitoring a bunch of ten year olds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Requests are still open! I'll try to keep up with them!
> 
> Also, the whole listening to music together scene was 100% inspired by Jim and Pam on The Office...


	7. Temporary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based on the writing prompt: "Imagine your OTP finds out that people are writing fanfiction about them." 
> 
> Rating: Solid PG-13 (TV-14)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiii, I didn't forget about this, but I just started a new semester, and well, you know how college is.. Anyways, I had a lot of fun with this one! Introducing Popular!El and Popular!Mike (basically the whole party is popular). I tried out some angst in this one, my friends. But it has a nice ending! 
> 
> Extremely loosely inspired by To All The Boys I've Loved Before, and you'll see why.. but it's mostly my ideas that I wanted to include. :)
> 
> Enjoy!

The students at Hawkins High had gotten used to the hierarchy of things. On the bottom of the totem pole was the nerds and burnouts, those who never got invited to parties and didn’t have many friends. Next, there were the art and theater kids, who while not exactly popular, were well known by most of the other students. Then, there were the students on student counsel, who ran every school event and earned their ticket to any social outings. Finally, at the top were the jocks, who ran the entire school and were the ones who threw most of the parties. 

But the most popular kids of Hawkins High were known as the Elite Six. They were a group of kids who had been best friends since grade school, and were unstoppable when they were together. They were some of the best athletes in the school and although getting close to the exclusive group was highly unlikely, they had lots of friends who practically worshiped them. 

First, there was Will Byers. Will was on the basketball team, and was Hawkins’ best baseball player. He was known as the kindest member of the group, although he was pretty shy and usually didn’t interact with anyone who didn’t initiate the conversation. 

Next, there was Dustin Henderson, who broke some rules of jocks by also being in theater. He was on the defensive line on the football team, and was captain of the wrestling team. In the spring, he joined his friend Will on the baseball team. He was the most social of the group, making friends with almost everyone he ran into. 

Then, there was Lucas Sinclair, running back on the football team, point guard on the the basketball team, and one of Hawkins’ track stars. 

Lucas’s girlfriend, Max Mayfield was a force to be reckoned with. She played volleyball and ran track, but also spent a lot of her time skateboarding. 

When King Steve graduated, Mike Wheeler took over. His role as the quarterback on the football team made him the most popular guy at school. He also held a spot on the basketball and track teams. 

But if there was one person who was universally popular and loved by the student body, it was El Hopper. She was the captain of the cheer squad and also the fastest runner on the track team. 

Out of the six, Mike and El were essentially the King and Queen of Hawkins’ High. Only they weren’t together, not even a little bit. So when people referred to them as the King and Queen, they got a little uncomfortable. 

They had been best friends for years, they all had really. But they’d never dated, or even thought about it. I mean, how can you think of someone who you played in the dirt with as a kid romantically? So when El found out about the fanfiction, she nearly fell out of her bed. 

She was doing some homework for the next day when she received a text from Max. She grabbed her phone and looked at the message. It was a link. Feeling apprehensive, she clicked on it. 

“The King & Queen of Hawkins High” shone brightly across her phone screen. She continued reading. “Mike and El are the most popular kids in school, so it makes sense that they would end up together. A fanfiction story.”

Horrified, El read through the story, feeling more and more exposed and embarrassed as some of it was explicit. 

She quickly typed a message to send back to Max. 

(10:26pm) El: OMG !!! What is happening!! 

(10:27pm) Max: apparently other kids have been writing fanfiction about you and Mike... there’s a lot more where that came from... I might’ve read a few

(10:28pm) El: Max!!

(10:29pm) Max: Sorry El, but they were kinda good

(10:31pm) El: Where did you find this??

(10:32pm) Max: there’s a whole website dedicated to it...

(10:34pm) El: OMG! Can we take it down??

(10:35pm) Max: no I don’t think so... sorry Ellie 

(10:37pm) El: it’s okay

El threw her phone back onto her bed and laid down sighing. 

Reluctantly, but curiously, El grabbed her phone again to look for the website. Finding it easily, she then began to read a few of the stories. She hated to admit it, but Max had been right. Some of them were pretty good stories, maybe if she could replace the names Mike and El with someone else…

.........

 

The next day, El walked quickly through the halls looking around every corner for Mike. She felt obligated to tell him about the fanfiction. After all, it involved him just as much as it did her. Finally, after fifteen minutes of running around school, she found him coming out of the boy’s locker room. 

“Mike!” she yelled to get his attention. 

He stopped walking and greeted her, “Hey, what’s up?” he said, seeing the chaotic look on her face. 

“We need to talk,” she answered, pulling him by the arm to an empty classroom. 

She closed the door and turned around to see Mike looking at her with an amused and confused expression. “What’s going on?” he asked. 

“This…” she said, handing him her phone with the fanfiction on it, “is what’s going on.”

Mike looked at the screen, “This is…”

“Horrible! I mean, can you believe that everyone is writing this shit about us?” El interrupted. 

“Oh, come on, it’s not that bad… I’ve seen much worse ones than this one,” Mike replied. 

“Whoa, whoa, wait… worse ones? You already knew about this?” El was bewildered. 

“I mean, yeah, but it’s not a big deal, right?” 

“What do you mean it’s not a big deal? They are messing with our personal lives!” El exclaimed. 

“They actually aren’t, if you think about it, El,” Mike laughed. 

“What?” 

“It’s not like they’re writing anything that has actually happened. It’s called fanfiction for a reason… it’s fiction. Besides, it’s not like they’re forcing us together or anything… By the way, why is that so appalling to you?” 

“Mike, you know that’s not what I meant. We’re best friends. We have been for our whole lives,” El told him, honestly. 

“Exactly, that’s why they write this stuff. It’s because we’re close. We have loving feelings for each other… just… not in the way they think,” Mike said logically. “And, not to mention the fact that we are the King and Queen of Hawkins High…”

“Oh, God, please don’t call us that,” she rolled her eyes. 

“Aw come on, I love being the King. Don’t you love being the Queen, babe?” 

“No, and don’t call me that. You’ll ignite the rumors even further,” El looked at him annoyed. 

“Fine, what should I call you then?” Mike teased. 

“El will be just fine, thank you,” she said as she opened the door of the classroom and exited out to the hallway. 

“You’re impossible, El Hopper!” he shouted lightly as she walked away. 

El simply turned so that she was momentarily walking backwards, and gave him the finger while smiling at him. 

He smiled back… an action that was not missed by the other students in the hall, which incidentally added fuel to the fire of the rumor mill. 

……..

El looked at her peers completely differently now that she knew what they were often thinking when they looked at her, and at Mike. She felt watched, even more so than usual. She was used to getting attention for her popularity, but this made her feel so exposed and uncomfortable. And she knew that Mike was right. That wasn’t anything really wrong with what they were doing, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling. 

It had now been a week since she first saw the fanfiction, and she thought she was over it, but then that’s when the fake messages were sent.

She was in the middle of class, when she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket. She carefully pulled it out, not wanting to be seen by the teacher. Staring at the screen, her blood ran cold. Someone had sent around a screenshot of apparent messages between her and Mike, but of course, they weren’t actual messages she had sent. She raised her hand.

“Yes, Ms. Hopper?” the teacher said.

“May I please use the restroom?” El asked, trying her best to keep it together. The teacher nodded, and El quickly exited the classroom, her eyes watering. She made it to the girl’s restroom just before the tears boiled over. She felt horrified, violated, and worse… none of it was actually true. 

She heard someone come in, and turned to see Mike Wheeler standing there looking worried. 

“This is the girl’s room,” she said through her sniffles.

“I know, but I saw you come in here upset. I’m guessing you saw the screenshot…” 

“You think?” El spoke sarcastically. 

“It’s okay, El. I know it’s not true and you know it’s not true, and that’s all that matters,” he said, walking forward to hug her. 

“It’s not okay. Fanfiction is one thing, but this? Isn’t this some kind of violation or something?” El cried into Mike’s chest. 

“I don’t know. You’re the one who has a dad whose a cop,” he replied. El giggled. 

“Yeah.”

“I have an idea,” Mike began. “But please don’t get mad….”

“Okay,” El said, intrigued. 

“What if we actually went out? At least for a little while… that way they’ll lose interest in us and things can go back to the way they were before…”

“Mike… are you asking me to be your fake girlfriend?” she asked, carefully looking at him.

“Not exactly… let’s make it real, just like a temporary thing?” he said hesitantly. 

“So… this is you… actually asking me out, like on a real date… to have a real relationship, until we feel like quitting?” El was a little confused. 

“Yeah.”

“Mike?… that sounds like a regular relationship…”

“No, I mean, I don’t want to have to act one way in public and another way in private, so we do couple things when we’re alone too. So it’s technically a temporary real relationship,” he explained. 

“Okay… Okay. Yeah, we can do that I guess… I don’t fully understand it, but we can do that,” she replied. 

“So…”

“So…”

Mike stepped closer to El again and leaned down, giving her a simple kiss, which she returned. 

El looked at him a little confused by his actions.

“Didn’t want the first kiss I shared with you to have an audience… we have to look like we’ve kissed before,” he explained. 

“Everyone is going to freak,” El said. 

“Yeah, but only for a little while,” Mike replied. 

……..

Mike and El officially debuted their newfound relationship at lunch. At first, people were very confused. El could see it on everyone’s faces. Mike had his arm around El, resting his wrist on her shoulder. People stared at them as they crossed to their table. 

Their friends had been very surprised as well. Mike and El had always been adamant that there was nothing romantic between them, so for them to just randomly start dating out of the blue… well, it was just strange. 

Mike and El spent that first week of dating learning what each other wanted to do as a couple. Mike learned that El liked to hold hands a lot, and to be kissed goodbye. El learned that Mike liked it when she would lay her head on his shoulder when they were watching a movie. 

After about a month, as Mike had predicted, the student population of Hawkins High was quiet about their relationship, other than the occasional “Aw they’re so cute!” But El wasn’t sure she wanted to break up now that things were cooled off. She avoided the topic all together… only for it to come back and bite her in the ass. 

It started with the fight. Their first real one since they started dating. 

Mike and El had been studying for a big Calculus exam when suddenly shouts could be heard from the upstairs of the Wheelers’ house. Mike, visibly agitated by the noise, began fidgeting so badly, El had to say something. 

“Mike,” she began.

“No.”

“What?” El said, looking confused. 

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Mike, please…” El started again. 

“No! El!” Mike shouted. “I told you I don’t want to talk! Okay? You never listen to me! I think you should just leave!”

“Mike!” she yelled back. “What is wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with me? Well, my parents should never have gotten married in the first place, for starters. And my mother is a whore who sleeps around and cheats on my dad, who, by the way, is a lazy good for nothing parent! I said GET OUT!”

El shoved her things in her backpack aggressively and angrily stomped out the door. 

……..

Three days. It had been three days since El last spoke to Mike on the night of their fight. He never called, he even skipped school on Monday. He wouldn’t talk to her. 

El hated this. She hated it more than anything. But she couldn’t bring herself to regret starting a relationship with Mike. Because after everything, El realized that she, in fact, did love Mike Wheeler. 

She loved him in a very real, very big way. And she didn’t want to lose him over this stupid fight. 

So… she was going to have to tell him. 

Only as it turns out, telling Mike is going to be a bit difficult if she can’t find him. 

She had checked his house, called his phone multiple times, visited various places in Hawkins that she knew he liked. He was nowhere to be found. 

After hours of searching, El was just about to give up. But then, she thought about one place she hadn’t checked. It was her last hope. 

She walked down the familiar path that she hadn’t been through since she was maybe ten years old. It was overgrown from being unused, although it did seem like someone had recently come through because there were some spots on the ground where the grass was matted down in the shape of footprints. She held onto that hope that it had been Mike. 

Finally, she reached the small treehouse where she’d spent nearly half her time as a kid. The boards of wood were mossy, but still study. She climbed up the ladder. 

Sitting in the treehouse was, in fact, Mike Wheeler. 

“Mike? What’re you doing here?” El asked, seeing that Mike was still upset. 

“Nothing,” he answered, wiping his face to rid it of any tears. 

“It’s not nothing, Mike. You can talk to me,” El sat next to him. 

“Why do you even care?” he said dejectedly. 

“Because I care about you, and Mike… I—I love you. I don’t want you to be upset, and I certainly don’t want to lose you over this. I’m in this permanently… if you are too…”

Mike looked directly at her for the first time she walked into the treehouse.

“It’s my parents,” he said. “They’re getting a divorce, which is good. They should, they’re awful together. But… Mom can’t afford the house on her own, we’ll have to move. And Holly, I mean, she’s just a kid… I don’t know what to do.”

“Mike, it’s going to be okay. Whatever happens with your parents, with you, I’m here for it. I’m here for you. We’ll figure this out together,” El replied.

A tear ran down Mike’s face and he smiled gently at her. “El… I love you too.”

Then, Mike and El’s lips were crashing against each other. They had made out before, a couple times during the month that they had been dating. But not like this. 

This was completely different. It felt like they had finally clicked in the way they were meant to. They were in love, and they were accepting it. 

Mike began to lie down on top of El as they kissed. El let her hands roam around his torso. 

And that night, the treehouse they had often visited as kids became their place again. 

……..

Mike and El were by no means the ~perfect~ couple. They fought. A lot. But at the end of the day, they always made up, because life is short. And when you love someone like they love each other, you don’t waste time being angry. 

Years passed by in a happy blur. All thanks to a stupid fanfiction story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please, please send me requests! I love them! 
> 
> And thank you for reading!


	8. The Bouquet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Based on the request for Mike and El meeting at Lumax's wedding and El catches the bouquet!
> 
> Rating: Mild PG-13 (TV-14) (just a few minor swears)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, again! Here's another requested story! Hope you enjoy it!

In all the years that Mike Wheeler had known his friend Lucas, he’d never seen him so happy. Apparently, getting married to a fiery redhead named Max was good for him. And Mike was more than happy for him. Maybe he was a little jealous, after all he didn’t even have a girlfriend himself yet. And it felt like he was the last of his friends that was single. 

For now though, he would smile and watch from the crowd as one of his best friends got married. He didn’t hold it against him for not putting him in the wedding. They’d wanted a small ceremony with only a best man and maid of honor as their wedding party. There were less than fifty guests total, and it was almost entirely family. Lucas had asked Dustin to be his best man.

Mike had to admit that it was hard for him to just sit there. He knew that if he ever got married, he’d want all his friends up at the alter with him, but he understood why Lucas wanted it this way. Mike had spent enough time with Max to know that she didn’t keep much company. She had a few friends she was close with, but only one notable one, who was going to be her maid of honor. He’d never seen her before.

Mike sat next to Will a few rows from the front as they heard the wedding march start to play.

Lucas walked down the aisle, his parents on either side of him. Once they were at the front, his mother kissed his cheek and they sat in the front row as Lucas took his position in front of the alter. 

Mike smiled at Lucas, who grinned brightly back at him.

Mike turned his attention on the back of the aisle, where he saw Dustin beginning to walk with the maid of honor. His friend smiled widely as he escorted the woman down the aisle. 

And that’s when Mike realized that the maid of honor was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. She had her hair in an updo, with brown curls cradling the sides of her face gracefully. She was smiling at people in the crowd as she passed by them, giving a wink to those of them she knew well. As she passed Mike, her brown eyes locked with his, and he felt the whole world shift on it’s axis. It was almost as if she had walked in slow motion. He smile softened as she looked at him, almost as if she was just as enraptured by him as he was by her. 

But then, she gaze broke away from him as she stepped up to her place at the alter. Mike could’ve sworn she looked towards him again after she’d found her spot. He wasn’t really able to pay much attention to the ceremony after that. 

……..

El couldn’t believe how incredibly attractive the man she’d locked eyes with at the ceremony was. She’d almost forgotten why she was even there. If Dustin hadn’t been pulling her along, she might’ve stopped right then and there. 

She spared a couple glances towards him as Max and Lucas said their vows, but she didn’t want to seem like a creep, so she tried to keep her eyes focused on the happy couple. However, she did think she saw him looking at her too. 

After the ceremony and pictures were done, everyone had gone to the reception, which was taking place in a literal tent in a field. El thought it was romantic, and she also knew that the couple had wanted to save money, especially with the little bundle of joy they were keeping secret until after the wedding was over. 

They sat at the table reserved for the wedding party at the front of the tent, and El sipped on her champagne. 

“You know, it’s really not fair that I can’t drink at my own wedding,” Max grumbled from right next to her. She was joking, of course. She was excited about the baby.

“Karma, bitch,” El replied, teasing her. 

“Do you think anyone will notice?” Max asked nervously. 

“Well you were planning on telling them soon anyway, right?” El said, taking another sip.

“I mean, yeah, but I just want the wedding to be about us, you know? Cuz after we tell everyone, it’s going to be all about the baby for the rest of our lives,” Max admitted. 

“I’m sure no one will notice, Maxie. You’re only at eight weeks, YOU barely noticed,” El commented, adding, “who is that guy over there?”

Max looked in the direction that El was pointing, a huge grin forming on her face. “Ooh, Ellie likes what she sees.. That’s Lucas’s friend, Mike.”

“Mike,” El repeated. 

“You should go talk to him. He lives in Chicago, too. He’s some kind of scientific researcher, I’m kinda fuzzy on the details, but he makes good money,” Max said. 

“You know I don’t care about money,” El glared at her best friend. 

“Well, he’s single… just so you know,” Max wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

“Whatever,” El downed the rest of her champagne and got out of her seat, walking in the same direction as Mike. 

……..

Mike almost choked on his drink when El, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, began walking towards him. 

“Hey,” he said as she reached him. 

“Hey, I wanted to introduce myself. I’m El,” she held her hand out.

Mike grabbed her hand, shaking it. “Mike.”

“Max told me you’re friends with Lucas,” El said, making conversation.

“Yeah, we’ve known each other since kindergarten,” Mike told her. 

“Wow, you’re lucky to have kept a friend for that long. Max is my oldest friend, and we’ve only known each other since we were eighteen,” El explained. 

“So did you meet in college?” Mike asked.

“Yeah, we had a class together and bonded over our hatred for our roommates at the time. We ended up being roommates the next year. We lived together until she decided to move in with Lucas. I’ve been pretty much alone ever since,” El had a sad look on her face, as if she really was lonely. 

“Well, I have been living alone for a long time too. It can get a bit depressing.”

“So, um, what do you do?” El asked him.

“I’m a scientific researcher. I basically am studying different forms of chemotherapy right now, trying to make it easier for patients who have undergo the treatments,” Mike said.

“Wow, that’s really amazing, Mike.”

“What about you?” Mike took another drink of champagne.

“Oh, I’m a registered nurse working in oncology, so I know a lot about what you’re working with.” El smiled at Mike. 

“That’s weird.. but not, like, um, bad weird.. I just meant that, uh, shit…”

“Mike, it’s okay. I know what you meant.”

Just then, the DJ came over the microphone, stating that it was time for the bouquet toss. El gave Mike a little wave, signaling that she had to go. All the unmarried girls at the reception gathered around behind Max, and El joined them, standing towards the back and to the left a little. She figured it was pretty unlikely that she would catch the bouquet from right there, which was perfectly fine with her.

Of course, that is why it was so surprising when Max threw the bouquet and it flew through air and landed neatly in El’s hands. El felt her cheeks began to burn with embarrassment, and she momentarily considered making a run for it. But Max was already there, making fun and laughing at El’s surprise. 

El was finally able to break away from the crowd of girls and walked back over to where Mike was, shaking her head in embarrassment as Mike laughed. 

“Well, well, guess someone better start planning for her wedding, since apparently you’ll be the next to get married,” Mike joked. 

“Very funny. Haha. How ironic, because I don’t even have a boyfriend,” El replied. 

“Really?” Mike said, raising his eyebrows a little.

“Does that surprise you?” El asked, feeling her heart pound harder in her chest. 

“Yeah, I mean… you’re… you’re gorgeous and you seem like a really nice person,” Mike admitted, looking down at the ground as he spoke. 

El meant to say “Thank you”, but instead she asked, “What about you?”

“What?” Mike’s face was nearly red now. 

“Are you… single?” El said, feeling anxious about how this was going to turn out. 

“Uh… yeah, yeah I am… You’re… you’re not interested… are you?” Mike hesitantly questioned.

“What would you say if I was?” El answered, trying to stay neutral. 

“Well, I… I would think that’s pretty cool, and maybe want to go out sometime… like on a date…” Mike and El had slowly been gravitating towards each other. Now, they were only a few inches away. 

“And I would say yes,” El whispered, breathless at how close they were. 

Then, they were kissing. Mike’s lips soft against El’s, and it was as if no one was watching. 

But of course, there were other people there. And they did see the two kissing, but no one interrupted them and no one said a word. 

Not even Max, who was watching happily from her table. 

After the reception was over, and everyone was long gone, Mike and El stayed to help clean up. Once they’d finished, they took a long walk, just talking and getting to know one another. 

After that night, Mike and El were inseparable. After that night, neither one of them was ever alone again. 

And as for the bouquet, Mike and El were the next ones who got married, a year and a half later. 

Someday, they would have children together, children with Mike’s freckles and El’s curly hair. But just for tonight, it was them. And that was all they needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to send me requests in the comments! I won't get to them right away, but I assure you, I won't forget about them!


	9. The Soulmark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> El is searching for her soulmate. Turns out he's a lot closer than she thought.
> 
> Rating: PG

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! So, um... yeah it's been a hot minute since I've updated this. Sorry about that. Life happened and I got majorly busy. On top of that, I had some technical difficulties that prevented me from writing for a couple weeks. 
> 
> This story is a short and sweet version of the soulmark trope. It's very cliche, I am aware, but it was something I could write quickly. I wanted a short story to post to let you all know that I'm not going anywhere or abandoning this one-shot collection. 
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy!

El felt like she’d been searching for her soulmate forever. Of course, it had only been ten years since she got her soulmark, a small little squiggly mark on her foot that had showed up on her sixteenth birthday. She remembers that day very vividly, as she had invited her best friend Max over to wait for it to happen. 

As teenagers, soulmates were so unbelievable, El and Max couldn’t help but be obsessed with the thought. There were people out there made perfectly for them. They just had to find them. 

They paid attention to the soulmarks they could see on people at school, but no one was a match yet. 

The scariest thought, however, was that not everyone finds their soulmate. Or they find them later in life, after they’ve had children. 

El’s father, Jim Hopper, had not found his soulmate until he was in his forties. This being after a failed marriage which resulted in El’s older sister, Sarah, and a casual relationship with El’s mother, Terry, which of course landed him with a second daughter. 

Jim married Joyce Byers after less than a year of dating. They were El’s example of perfect soulmates, but they’d gotten started late. 

El’s older step-brother Jonathan found his soulmate, although El still hadn’t met her. He talked about his girlfriend Nancy all the time. El figured there would be another wedding to go to soon.

Sarah had found her soulmate in Steve Harrington, a strange but oddly adorable pairing, having been married for nearly three years now and expecting their first child. 

Max’s soulmate ended up being a nerdy guy she’d met in college. They just recently got married. 

Will had even found his soulmate. 

But El? She hadn’t even come close. 

But really? How do you actively search for your soulmate? Put an add online? Spread the word on your social media? Hey everyone! El’s still single! Can you believe it?!

Yeah, right.

El was just about to give up on her soulmate, when something very strange happened. 

El sat in her desk chair at the office, where she’d been working for almost four years, when her boss called for her. 

El immediately stood up and headed to her boss’ office, walking in to find one of her coworkers standing and talking to him. 

“There she is,” he acknowledged as she walked in, “El, I was just telling Mike here about how your sales have been doing very well lately.”

“Oh thank you, sir,” El replied politely, smiling at him. She was careful not to look directly at Mike. He always made her heart beat a little faster when she saw him. 

“So here’s the deal, you two. As you know, I am retiring after next quarter and have been looking for a replacement.“

El nodded, and she could see Mike doing the same in her peripheral vision.

“I think you both are excellent candidates, so I’ve told corporate to hire you both as co-managers of the branch. The job would be better done by two people anyways, you’ll have time to have a life outside the office.”

El was in shock. She had expected someone like Mike to get it, but she’d never imagined that she would even be considered. 

“Thank you so much, sir,” El quickly said.

“Yes, thank you,” Mike repeated. 

“Well, I’ll leave you two to strategize. I’m sure you’ll have a lot to talk about,” their boss replied as he ushered them out of his office, which would soon be shared by both of them.

Once they were out of earshot, El felt herself becoming excited. She turned to Mike, who was still standing next to her. 

“I can’t believe we’re going to be co-managers,” she told him.

“Me either. I mean, I knew you were a strong candidate for the job, but I never expected this,” Mike admitted.

“Really? I thought you would get it,” El said. 

Mike smiled. “Wanna go get some coffee and talk about how we’ll split the work?”

El nodded and they set off for the coffee place on the first floor of the building. 

Mike and El spent the whole afternoon discussing the logistics of being co-managers, and they were able to easily come up with a plan. Their skills complemented each other in a way that was just so so perfect. 

Later, after making their way back to the main office before heading home for the day, they made small talk as El grabbed her purse and Mike grabbed his coat. 

“Well, Mike, I can’t wait to work with you,” El told him. “It sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

“Ditto,” Mike agreed, giving her a smile that nearly stopped her heart. 

El was about to make her way towards the office’s main door, when she suddenly tripped, falling down and losing her shoe in the process. 

“Oh my god, El. Are you okay?” Mike asked. 

El sat up, embarrassed and a little red-faced. “Yeah, it’s these damn shoes. They’re a size too big,” she explained. 

She grabbed her shoe and began to angle her foot to put it back on, when Mike stopped her. 

“Is that your soulmark?” he asked, examining the little squiggle shape on the top of her foot. 

“Yeah, why?” El asked, confusion etched on her face for his sudden interest in her mark.

Mike didn’t say a word. He simply took off his coat, then began to roll up his left sleeve, revealing an identical mark on his forearm. 

El stared at the mark, unmoving and shocked, then looked up into Mike’s eyes. 

“It’s you…” she whispered. 

Mike grinned beautifully back at her. 

“It’s me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank y'all so much for reading! 
> 
> Shameless self promo time!
> 
> If you aren't already following my other one-shot collection "I Love Her, I Love You too", please feel free to do that. It's all mileven goodness taking place after season 3 and is canon compliant (...mostly). 
> 
> Also wanted to put a plug in for my newest fic, which has not yet been posted, but will be very soon!   
> "Wanderlust" is going to be a multi-chapter Mileven AU. Here's the summary:
> 
> Mike Wheeler is a popular senior in high school and the student body president, but when his English grade takes a turn, he has to get a tutor for extra help.
> 
> El Hopper keeps to herself, and devotes all her time to her job and writing for the Hawkins High newspaper. She dreams of being a journalist, but her life gets interrupted by some disturbing news about her family. 
> 
> What happens when these two very different people's lives cross paths? Tutoring sessions and a roadtrip lead to unchartered territory for either of them. A coming of age story of learning to trust, accept, and most importantly, love. 
> 
> (The first chapter of this fic will be posted later this week! Check it out!)


	10. he's just not that into you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> El is best friends with Mike, who gives her relationship advice. But someone is harboring feelings for the other, and something in their dynamic changes.
> 
> Rated Teen & Up - swearing and suggestive themes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey... how y'all doin? It's been *checks watch* six months since I've updated this fic. I definitely had not intended to leave this alone for that long, but this chapter is a little longer than most of the others so far. I had actually considered making this a separate multi-chapter fic, but I thought that adding another fic to my already full schedule would be a bad idea, so I shortened the original plot. 
> 
> And if anyone's wondering, this is based on a movie. (same name as the chapter)

“He’s just not into you,” Mike told El as he plopped down next to her on the couch in his apartment. 

El rolled her eyes, having heard Mike tell her this many times before with pretty much every guy she’d ever been interested in. Well, not every guy… but a vast majority. 

“And how would you know?” El asked, kicking his shin with her converse shoes.

“Well, two reasons. One, he didn’t set a second date. And two, he didn’t kiss you goodnight,” Mike said reasonably. 

“You don’t have to set another date while on your first one, that’s what phones are for. And so what if he didn’t kiss me? Maybe he wants to take it slow,” El suggested. 

“I’ll bet you ten bucks that he doesn’t call you in the next week,” Mike took a drink of his beer. 

“You don’t even have ten bucks,” El argued, looking at Mike pointedly.

“True, but I will next week when you have to give me ten bucks,” Mike grinned.

El and Mike had been friends since El moved to Hawkins in the 7th grade. He invited her to sit at his friends’ lunch table because she was sitting all alone. They’d all been best friends since then. El’s dad had even ended up marrying their friend Will’s mom. Their group of friends had seen El through all of her relationships, the good and the bad. 

But it had been Mike she’d always been closest to. He was always the person she went to for advice. Even when she met Max, her only girl friend, in the 8th grade, she still considered Mike as her best friend. 

“You’re such an idiot,” El said, rolling her eyes once more. “Any of the others coming to hang out tonight?”

“Nope Dustin and Lucas are both working tonight, Will is still sick, and Max bailed for some reason, who knows,” Mike explained. 

El took a drink of her own beer, finishing it off, before setting the empty bottle down on the coffee table. 

The Party, as their friends often called themselves, usually hung out daily. But as busy lives and busy schedules got in the way, sometimes there would be a few missing. 

And sometimes, it would be just Mike and El. 

They were 23, none of the Party were married, but they all had jobs and their own apartments. 

Will was an illustrator for children’s publishing company. Dustin was a scientific researcher. Lucas worked in data analysis. Max had a lovely cubical at her office working in the stock market. El was a social worker. And Mike was the manager of a bar. (Only while writing his first book. He might be able to make money when the book gets published, but right now he needs to make rent.) 

“Well, if no one else is coming to hang out, I think I’m just gonna go home. I’m so tired,” El told him. 

“You sure? You can always crash here if you want. I don’t mind,” Mike offered. 

“No it’s okay, my place is only two blocks away,” El replied. 

“I know, but Chicago at night is kinda dangerous, especially for pretty 23-year-olds,” Mike said. 

“I’m a big girl, Mike. I can take care of myself,” El pulled on her jacket. “Besides, it’s not that late anyways.”

“Okay, well. See you tomorrow at Dustin’s?” Mike asked. 

“Definitely,” El smiled, leaving Mike alone in his apartment and taking off for her own. 

........

Mike was wiping down the bar, hoping that someone would at least come for a beer. 

But Sunday nights were slow, and the bar was completely empty, other than the old man Jeff that came every night of the week. 

Mike hated working the Sunday shift. It was easy money, sure. But it was so boring, and it dragged on for what seemed like days instead of hours. He rarely came out of a Sunday shift with any tips at all. 

Suddenly, his phone began to ring and he picked it up, “Hello?”

“Hey, Mike, what are you doing right now?” El’s voice said through the phone. 

“Working... kind of,” Mike answered. “What’s up?”

“So I’m on a date right now, and we came back to his apartment. He told me he was going to be out of town for the next few days so he wouldn’t be in touch... so I was wondering, do I take things all the way tonight or do I wait for when he gets back from his trip? I don’t wanna seem like a slut, but I really like him and I think he really likes me…” El asked quickly. 

“What? El, no... just no,” Mike said. 

“What? Why?” El replied confused. 

“Jesus, you could not be worse at reading cues from guys. El, he’s hoping that you sleep with him tonight and then his ‘trip’ gives him an excuse to not call you after. Just save yourself the heartache, and go home,” Mike told her. 

“Oh my god... Wow, I am such an idiot,” El said. 

“You’re not... you’re just really... easy to manipulate. People take advantage of you,” Mike sat at one of the barstools, no one was going to use them tonight anyways. 

“How do you know all this stuff?” El asked. 

“Do you want the honest answer?” 

“Yes.”

“Because I’m a guy, El. It’s not like I’ve never done something like that. Maybe not so extreme as faking a trip, but yes, I’m not perfect. Sometimes you realize halfway through a date that you’re really not into the other person, and you have to find a way out without seeming completely like a jackass.”

“...I guess. Thanks, Mike,” El said. 

“You’re welcome, see ya later,” Mike hung up and continued to “work.”

........

Will Byers was well aware that his best friend had a crush on his step-sister, and had since the day they met. But there was a teeny little problem. Will didn’t think that Mike even knew how he felt about El. He watched them interact for years, seeing things that others didn’t. It was part of being the “quiet one.” You notice and observe those around you. And Will, well, he knew for a fact that Mike was in love with El. Mike put El before everyone else. It wasn’t easy to spot exactly, but it was true. He always greeted El with a hug, and rarely gave any of his other friends the same enthusiasm. He always brought El her drink when they all hung out together. And the biggest clue of all was the fact that Mike and El hung out far more than anyone else in the Party. 

Will remembered the first time they’d ever drank, at a party their senior year of high school. Mike barely had anything to drink, and he watched over El all night long. He had made sure El hadn’t gotten too drunk, and he’d gone to extreme lengths to keep her in his sights. It was the first of many nights like this, Mike watching out for El silently, sometimes from afar. 

But the worst thing about Mike not realizing his crush on El, was the fact that El had no clue either. So, Will had to just sit back and watch. Until… one day he decided…. Maybe, just maybe… if there’s something there, he can bring it out.

Mike and El deserve a chance, and Will was going to give it to them.

……..

“Hey Max,” Will said, sitting down across from her in the diner. 

“Hey Will, what’s up? On the phone you sounded hyped up about something,” Max asked. 

“I need your help with something, and it’s going to sound a little crazy,” Will told her.

“Do tell,” Max replied, sitting up a little straighter with excitement. 

“Have you ever thought of Mike and El being… in a relationship?” Will asked. 

“No…. Are they?” Max looked very confused.

“No, no. It’s just. Mike has had a huge crush on El for years, and he doesn’t even know it. El doesn’t either, but if she knew…. I really think there could be something there. I know, I know. It’s crazy to try and get them together, but..” 

“It… actually makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it. He treats her differently. I always thought it was just because he’d known her longer than me, so I didn’t really pay attention, but it makes so much sense… Yes, I’ll help you.” 

Will grinned.

“Alright, Byers… What’s the plan?” Max asked.

……..

As it turns out, the “plan” was a simple dinner party at Will’s apartment two weeks later. Of course, Max and Will had planned this party meticulously so that Mike and El would be together by the end of the night. But of course, things don’t always go… exactly as planned. 

The first misstep of the night was when Mike showed up ten minutes late, and announced that he had met a girl at the bar the previous night, and he’d spent the whole day with her. El was enthusiastic and congratulated him, giving him a hug. 

Will whispered to Max, “Should we be doing this?”

Max shrugged, and mumbled, “It was your idea.”

The next problem was when El said she would have to leave early because she needed to be up early the next morning for work. That gave them less time to implement the plan.

Still, Max and Will were determined that tonight was the night, and they put the plan into motion. 

“Hey, Ellie, can I talk to you for a sec?” Max pulled El out of earshot from everyone else.

“What is it?” El asked, looking confused.

“Well, last night, Lucas told me that Dustin told him that Will told him that Mike likes you,” Max whispered.

“Well, of course he does. We’re best friends,” El rolled her eyes.

“No, no, El.. I mean like he has a crush on you,” Max explained. 

“What? That’s ridiculous,” El replied.

“Is it? Just think about it. He does all these things for you that he doesn’t do for anyone else. El, I’ve seen him carry your purse for you. That’s not normal,” Max said.

“Max. We are just close. He’s my best friend. So what if he carries my purse for me?” El reasoned.

“He doesn’t do that for me,” Max added, hoping El would finally see what she did.

“But you have Lucas to do that for you,” El countered.

“Exactly my point. Lucas will carry my purse for me because he’s my boyfriend, El. Normal guys don’t just do that for their friends who are girls. And it’s not just that, El. He makes Eggo waffles literally every time you come over, he constantly brings you up when you’re not around, and his lock screen on his phone is a picture of you together. He’s in love with you, El.”

“Oh… my God,” El mumbled, looking down in realization. “I can’t believe I… I never thought. I thought he was just being nice… he.. he’s in love with me?” El repeated.

“God, he’s so in love with you it’s ridiculous. And I needed to tell you because I know that he’d never initiate something with you. He’s too scared and intimidated by you, so that’s why it has to be you…. If that’s what you want.. I mean, if you didn’t want to be with him, I guess there isn’t really a problem,” Max told her. 

El looked stupefied. She didn’t speak.

“Do you.. want to be with him?” Max asked.

“I… I’ve always felt… something when I’m with him. I guess, I just didn’t think I could ever be with someone as incredible as him,” El admitted.

“So, is that a yes?”

“Yes, I do. I want to be with him.”

……..

Mike was refilling his drink and talking to Dustin when El came over.

“Hey, can I talk to you?” El asked.

Mike frowned, unsure why she had such a serious look on her face, but followed her out of the room anyways. 

“What’s up?” he said once they were alone. 

“Mike… I know… I know about your feelings,” El spoke cautiously. 

“My feelings?” Mike was confused.

“For me,” she replied plainly.

“What? What are you talking about?” Mike had never considered even thinking about El in a romantic way, so what was she talking about?

“Mike, Max told me. You clearly have feelings for me, given the way you treat me like your girlfriend,” El explained.

“But.. El-“ he started.

“It’s okay, Mike. I’m not entirely sure when, but… I think I’ve had feelings for you too,” El interrupted. 

“Oh my God,” Mike said. He couldn’t believe this. “El, I do all those things because you’re my best friend… not because I’m into you or anything.”

“What?… But Max said…” El looked just as confused as Mike felt. She had genuinely believed Max.

“I don’t know where Max got her information from, but-“ Mike saw that El’s eyes were starting to get watery. “Hey, don’t cry. You’re still my best friend. I still care about you.” Mike began to reach for her.

“No,” she said coldly. “Don’t.”

“El, I— just don’t know why you even thought..?” 

“Am I that repulsive that you can’t believe that I thought you would like me? Is that it?” El asked, a tear fell down her cheek as her angry eyes met his. 

“No, you’re twisting my words,” Mike said. 

“Screw you, Mike,” El replied as she walked out of the room. 

Mike tried to follow, but she ended up leaving Will’s apartment all together. The rest of their friends were standing there, staring at him and wanting to know what had just happened. 

Max and Will both looked fearsome and regretful. Dustin and Lucas just appeared downright confused. 

Mike got his jacket, and walked out too. But he didn’t go after El. He just went home. 

……..

It took exactly one week for things to turn around. 

The day after the horrible dinner party, Mike tried to call El seven times. She never answered, but he knew she was getting the calls because she sent them straight to voicemail. 

On day two, Mike tried to call eleven times. 

On day three, Mike only called once. 

On day four, Will came over to Mike’s apartment. 

“Hey, how’s it going?” Will asked, knowing that Mike and El were still fighting. And he ultimately blamed himself for meddling in business he shouldn’t have. 

“Well, El still won’t talk to me…. This is such bullshit. I hate not talking to her. We talk every day,” Mike answered.

“She told me everything,” Will said. “She’s humiliated that she put herself on the line like that.”

“God, I hate this. Everything just sucks. Of course I love her, she’s my best friend. But that doesn’t mean that I’m in love with her. I can’t be. I see her different from that. I mean, I don’t think of her the same Lucas does Max or like my sister and Jonathan. She’s the most important person to me in the world, does that mean I want to be with her? I just don’t know where this all came from. I love her,” Mike rambled. 

“Do you even hear yourself?” Will asked. 

“What?” Mike looked confused. 

“Oh my God, Mike. You literally just said that you loved her and she’s the most important person in the world to you…. You don’t even realize it, do you? Mike, those so-called ‘friendly’ feelings you have had for her all these years are not just friendly…. You say you’re not in love with her, but it’s bullshit, Mike. Take your head out of your ass and admit the truth.”

Mike stared back at Will like he was an alien. Will wasn’t usually this aggressive with his words, but somehow they cut Mike deeper than anything. 

“I’m just saying,” Will added, “there’s a reason you have such a connection with her that you don’t with the rest of us… I mean, for example, you once told me that Max was like an annoying little sister. Never once have you said anything about thinking of El as your sister, because clearly, she’s much more to you than that.”

Mike was quiet for a minute and then, “Holy shit…”

……..

On day five, Mike went over to El’s apartment and knocked on the door for an hour straight. El didn’t answer.

On day six, Mike tried calling seventeen times, and then knocked on her door for another hour. 

On day seven, Mike knocked on El’s door again, but this time, she opened it. 

“Okay,” she said, crossing her arms as she stood in the doorway. “What is it that you so desperately have to say?”

She looked as though maybe she hadn’t slept in days, and her hair was pulled up into a knot on her head. 

But she still looked more beautiful to Mike than ever.

“El…” he hadn’t really thought about what he do if she actually answered, but then the words came to him. “I am in love with you. And I’m such an idiot, I didn’t even realize. My feelings for you run deeper than my feelings for anyone else on the planet. You are literally the most important thing to me. And I hate that I hurt you, and I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you that I loved you then because… well, I didn’t know…. I didn’t know, El. I love you.”

For a moment, he wasn’t sure if El had even heard him, but then she moved forward and crashed their lips together.

Kissing El was like coming up for fresh air. Mike mentally hated himself for not realizing his feelings sooner. 

That feeling of exhilaration when kissing El never went away. 

Not even when they were old and wrinkly, with grandkids. In fact, the feeling only got stronger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Requests, as always, are encouraged. And I will try my very hardest to not leave y'all hanging for six months again. ;)


	11. Eggs, Toilet Paper, & Celebrity Crushes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For this prompt I found on tumblr:  
> "You’re famous and I jokingly left a comment on your social media post asking if you’ll go egg my ex-boyfriend’s house with me this weekend, and I never actually expected you to respond, let alone show up on Friday night with dark sweatshirts, toilet paper rolls, and three egg cartons tucked under you’re arm." 
> 
> Rating Teen & Up (i think there's like two swears in this whole thing. it's basically PG)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how, but I've managed to write another update for this like three(?) days after the last one, like what? Who is this? 
> 
> Anyways, this one might be my new favorite (and it's Chapter 11!). I'm very fond of it, and I hope you like it. It's cuuuute, I promise!!

El Hopper was scrolling through Instagram in the hopes of finding some form of distraction. Her boyfriend, well, ex-boyfriend had dumped her for another girl. She was tired of all these assholes that she somehow ended up with. Of course, there wasn’t much to see on her insta feed. A few pictures of her friends on vacation, and another piece of artwork that her stepbrother had painted. She liked the posts as she scrolled. 

After about ten minutes of mindless scrolling, El came across one of her favorite celebrities. Mike Wheeler was one of El’s favorite singers of all time. Every time he posted, she commented, hoping that someday he would maybe like her comment or something. It was a silly thing to do, she knew. But she just had a feeling, like fate maybe, that she needed to keep doing it. 

This time, it was a picture of his face, very close to the camera, the caption reading, “Someone tell me something interesting to do this weekend. I need a new adventure.”

El grinned, typing out her comment, “You could help me TP my ex’s house… he deserves it. :)”

There were maybe 500 comments already, and El knew that the likelihood of Mike seeing her comment was slim to none. 

El set her phone down on her nightstand, hopping up out of bed to get in the shower. A half hour later, she fell asleep with her wet hair plastered around her pillow.

…

She didn’t get to sleep for very long, though, as she woke with a start to the sound of someone knocking on the door to her house.

She got up reluctantly, quickly checking herself in the mirror to make sure she didn’t look too much of a mess, and headed for the front door. 

She unlocked it, and opened it to reveal something she had not expected.

Mike Wheeler. 

“Oh my God,” she said, shell-shocked.

“You almost ready to go?” he asked her.

“I… what?” El looked at him confused. 

“You commented on my photo… asking me to help you egg your ex’s house,” he said, looking amused at her expression. “Is... there something wrong?”

“I... You’re famous and I jokingly left a comment on your social media post asking if you’ll go egg my ex-boyfriend’s house with me this weekend, and I never actually expected you to respond, let alone show up on Friday night with dark sweatshirts, toilet paper rolls, and three egg cartons tucked under you’re arm,” El said without taking a breath. 

Mike laughed. “Yeah, I guess that’s a little weird isn’t it? I’ve never been the normal kind of celebrity.”

“How... how did you even find where I live?” El asked cautiously. 

“Oh, it was easy. Clicked on your Instagram, found your Snapchat in your bio, added you, and checked your location,” Mike explained. “I know it sounds a little stalkery, but I had good intentions.”

El couldn’t help but smile. 

“So... you ready to go?” Mike asked again. 

“Oh! Yeah, just give me a sec to go change,” she replied. “Come in.”

Mike walked through the door and waited in El’s living room as she changed into a fully black outfit. 

Five minutes later, El was riding in the passenger seat of Mike’s car, giving directions to her ex’s house. 

“So what did he do to you?” Mike asked, filling the silence. 

“Oh... he cheated on me, then left me for a different girl,” El answered. “I know what you’re thinking... I can really pick ‘em, can’t I?”

“I was actually wondering why someone would ever be such an asshole. Especially if it was you they were screwing over,” Mike replied smoothly. 

El felt herself blushing and thanked the stars that he couldn’t see her face in the dark. 

“So, I have a question,” El said. 

“Shoot.”

“What makes a famous singer like yourself want to go TP some random guys house with some random girl?” 

Mike grinned. “I had the weekend off, and I need something to do. I hate sitting still, I guess that’s why I chose this kind of lifestyle. I like adventure... and believe it or not, I’ve never TPed a house before.”

“Never?” El asked with surprise.

“Nope, so when I saw your comment, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do this weekend,” Mike told her. 

“Wow... lucky me,” El giggled. 

...

When they arrived at El’s ex’s house, the streets were empty and quiet. The houses had their lights off, as it was well after midnight now, and excitement filled the air. 

Mike quietly began to hand El some of the supplies he’d brought. 

“Okay,” he said once they were armed and ready. “You get to throw the first egg.”

El grinned and grabbed one out of the carton. She threw it as hard as she could, and was delighted when it hit the front door square in the middle. 

“Nice shot!” Mike whispered. 

They began to the eggs at various parts of the house, making sure to hit every window. Mike had even thrown one that hit the doorknob. 

A light came on in the house, but Mike and El didn’t hide. 

The front door opened just as El was throwing another egg. It hit her ex square in the chest, and he looked up at her in disgust. 

“What the hell are you doing, El?!” he shouted angrily. 

El was about to respond, but Mike beat her to it. 

“I suggest you go back into your house, you piece of shit! Unless you want the next one in your nose!” 

El bursted with laughter, as her ex slowly shut the door, looking more confused. 

They kept throwing eggs until they ran out, and then they started with the toilet paper, tossing it around into the trees and making sure that the front door was pretty much impassible. 

El was tossing the final roll of toilet paper, when she slipped. Mike tried to catch her, but ended up falling too, so that he was laying on top of her. 

“Sorry,” Mike said. 

“It’s okay,” El replied, feeling exhilarated and not at all upset at their current position. 

They didn’t move immediately, neither one of them really eager. 

Then Mike reached a hand out to brush a hair out of El’s face, and kissed her. 

It was several long moments before they broke the kiss. 

The next day, when El woke, she thought maybe it had all been a dream. 

But waiting for her on her phone was a text from Mike, asking her out on a date... a real date. 

And from that point on, El never had to worry about whether Mike would see her comments on Instagram. 

Because he always did. 

And El was almost always in the picture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone together now... 1... 2... 3... AWWW.
> 
> Okay, lol, I'll put my crackhead energy away now. Please let me know if you liked this fic. And at risk for sounding like a broken record, PLEASE send me prompts. This fic will receive more updates if more people send me requests!


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